First Responders Adopt Dogs They Helped Save From Wisconsin Plane Crash

The first responders who rushed to the scene after a plane carrying more than 50 shelter dogs crashed into a Wisconsin golf course this week helped save the animals in more ways than one.

The large twin-engine plane, which was ferrying the dogs to shelters in southeast Wisconsin from Louisiana, crashed on the golf course of Western Lakes Golf Club in Pewaukee on Tuesday.

Three people and 53 dogs on board all survived, with some of the animals suffering minor injuries like bumps and scrapes. All three people were taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, authorities said.

In the days following the crash, several first responders who worked at the scene adopted the dogs they helped rescue.

“As soon as I found out they were all okay, my first thought was that one of them was coming with me. So that’s my little Lucky,” said Elle Steitzer, a firefighter and EMT at Lake Country Fire Rescue. ABC Milwaukee affiliate WISN while cradling her new puppy.

Streitzer and two of his colleagues from Lake Country Fire Rescue who responded to the scene of the plane crash adopted dogs on Friday.

“He just fell out of the sky in front of me, so here he is,” Lake Country Fire Rescue firefighter and paramedic Amber Christian told WISN of her dog, Artemis.

Deputy Chief Tony Wasielewski said Marley jumped into his arms after the crash. The next day, he went to meet her at the Humane Animal Welfare Society of Waukesha County, which took in 21 of the dogs involved in the accident.

“When they let her in, she walked around my wife, ran up to me, hugged me, gave me kisses. I started to cry a little and said, ‘ Oh my God, I guess we have a dog,'” Wasielewski told WISN.

The dogs were taken to shelters in counties across Wisconsin.

Elmbrook Humane Society took 11 dogs, with the “first dibs” going to plane crash first responders.

“We’ve had several call to ask us,” Stephanie Deswarte, the shelter’s front desk manager, told ABC News.

“Normally we don’t let people adopt until we’ve posted them on our website because we want to give everyone as fair a chance as possible. But since they were obviously at the heart of the matter and they did a great job trying to help with this whole crazy situation, which we gave all first responders the first tips so to speak to adopt before they were posted on the website,” he said. she continued.

Deswarte said that so far three people involved in the rescue – one of the first responders on the scene, another first responder and a golf course worker – have adopted puppies Charlie Brown, Linus and Sally, while that the family of another first responder Respondent was considering adopting a puppy on Saturday.

“We’ve never had anything like this before,” Deswarte said. “It was a miracle that everyone was really well.”

Matthew Haerter, assistant chief of Lake Country Fire and Rescue, congratulated the pilot on what he described as a “relatively disastrous landing”. The aircraft swept through trees, losing both wings, before landing on its belly.

“I think we all collectively have a soft spot in our hearts, especially for the dogs that have been rescued,” Haerter said during a Tuesday press briefing. “And now to think that they have to go through this before they find their forever home.”

“It could have been a lot worse,” he said.

Local authorities have not commented on the cause of the accident. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident.