First Responders Adopt Dogs They Rescued from Plane Crash in Wisconsin: 'Fell Out of the Sky'
First responders who rescued 53 dogs from a plane crash in Wisconsin last week have welcomed the canines into their homes.
On Tuesday, a large twin-engine aircraft from Louisiana that was transporting the dogs to shelters in southeast Wisconsin ran into troubles, causing the plane to crash on a golf course at the Western Lakes Golf Club in Pewaukee, multiple outlets reported.
All of the human and animal passengers survived the crash, ABC News reported. Three people onboard suffered non-life threatening injuries and were transported to a nearby hospital, and some of the dogs endured minor injuries like bumps and scrapes, according to authorities.
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Days later, the officials who responded to the incident volunteered to adopt the dogs.
"As soon as I found out all of them were OK, my first thought was that one of them is coming home with me. So this is my little Lucky," Elle Steitzer, a firefighter and EMT at Lake Country Fire Rescue, told WISN while holding her newly adopted puppy.
ABC
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Steitzer adopted the dog on Friday, along with two of her other coworkers from the Lake Country Fire Rescue.
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While showing off her new canine companion, Amber Christian, a firefighter and paramedic at the department told WISN that her new dog Artemis "just kind of fell out of the sky in front of me, so here he is."
Deputy Chief Tony Wasielewski shared that his newly adopted dog Marley jumped into his arms when he arrived at the scene of the crash. Charmed by the gesture, the officer went to look for Marley the next day at the Humane Animal Welfare Society of Waukesha County, which sheltered 21 of the dogs from the crash, according to ABC News.
Speaking to WISN, Wasielewski said: "When they let her in the door she bypassed my wife, ran to me, jumped kind of into my arms, gave me kisses. I started to tear up a little bit and I said, 'Oh boy, I guess we got a dog.'"
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Following the crash, the dogs were transported to shelters in counties across Wisconsin. According to ABC News, Elmbrook Humane Society, which took in 11 of the dogs, said the organization had received "quite a few" calls from the first responders inquiring about the animals.
"We normally don't let people adopt until we have them up on our website because we want to give anybody as fair of a chance as possible," said Stephanie Deswarte, a front desk manager at Elmbrook. "But since they were obviously in the thick of it, and they did such a great job trying to help with the whole crazy situation, we gave all first responders first dibs, so to speak, to adopt before they went up on the website."
Deswarte said three puppies — Charlie Brown, Linus and Sally — have also been adopted by others involved in the rescue mission, including an employee at the golf course and two other first responders.
At a news conference on Tuesday, Matthew Haerter, assistant chief at Lake Country Fire and Rescue, praised the pilot involved in the crash, telling reporters: "This was a relatively catastrophic landing," according to the Washington Post.
Per the outlet, the cause of the crash is still unclear and the case is currently under investigation by The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board.
