UPDATE: Rescue effort that pulled man from icy pond ends in tragedy

A man who spent more than 90 minutes under the ice of a Fountain pond Saturday died after he was located by divers and rushed to a hospital.

Firefighters were called to the pond near the intersection of Interstate 25 and Mesa Ridge Parkway just after noon when a 9-1-1 caller reported that a man had plunged through the ice while chasing his runaway dog.

“If he would have had a leash on his dog, this wouldn’t have happened,” said Fountain Fire Chief Darin Anstine.

The man reached the dog and managed to throw the pit bull onto the shore before going under, Anstine said.

He said firefighters held out hope the man would survive. In water that cold, drowning victims can sometimes be revived after much as much as two hours under the ice, he said.

The efforts to pull the man from the water, though, couldn’t overcome the long odds against his survival. Anstine said the man died at Memorial Hospital.

The Fountain Fire Department called in rescue divers from Colorado Springs in frantic search of the murky 39-degree water. Altogether, about 28 firefighters responded.

Anstine said the water below the ice was so murky that divers had to feel their way along the bottom to find the man. The water was about 12 feet deep where he was found, roughly 20 feet from shore, Anstine said.

“There is a danger of them getting trapped in debris,” Anstine said, adding that’s why they train for such rescues.

After the man was located, he was pulled to the shore where medics began efforts to revive him. The dog was picked up by a loved one, Anstine said.

There are several ponds in close proximity in the area, crusted with ice in the winter. The ponds, called Willow Springs Ponds, are part of El Paso County’s Fountain Creek Regional Park and are a popular fishing spot.

“We’re down here every day chasing people off the ice,” Anstine said, adding that the ice looks strong, but it is certainly not thick enough to bear weight.

Another couple walking their boxer puppy around the pond as firefighters rinsed off equipment said they never want to have to decide whether to save a dog from the ice.

“Honestly, I’d have to try and save the dog,” said Dan Mathis.

El Paso County’s website says the ponds started as gravel pits that were acquired by the county in the 1980s and stocked with fish.

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Mark Reis contributed to this report.