Deer rescued from Fox River in Algonquin by firefighters

A deer stuck on the Fox River on Friday hadn’t gone through the ice but couldn’t find its footing either.

The Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Fire Protection District received “numerous calls from people in the area” about deer who had wandered onto the ice in the 1600 block of Harrison Street in Algonquin, Fire Chief John Knebl said. At one point, callers reported four deer on the ice.

“The other deer were able to get off the ice, but this poor girl was struggling,” Knebl said.

A firefighter in a water suit, tied with a rope to the shore, went out with a blanket and a ladder to encourage the deer onto the bank.

The firefighter tried to throw the blanket over the deer to help keep her calm, “but she kept throwing it off,” Knebl said.

Finally, the deer made it to the bank, where she decided to rest for a spell.

“She was so tired. She just hung out in that area” with a firefighter keeping an eye on her until she was ready to leave on her own, Knebl said.

He noted that the ice was thick enough to support the deer, the firefighter and the ladder. But he would not say that the Fox River ice is safe to walk on.

“We will go out and do training on the ice, but I have no clue” how thick it is now, Knebl said.

Just because one spot was strong enough to hold “doesn’t mean the water temperatures are the same and the currents are the same,” he said. “I would not call it safe to be on.”