Frontiersman editorial board

Especially since Sept. 11, 2001, the public has come to recognize the selfless acts of courage that police, fire and other emergency responders routinely make. Usually these efforts result in the saving of human life.

But an incident in the Valley last week shows that citizens and emergency responders alike also put importance on the welfare of animals. The drama began when Jim Stocker of Palmer noticed a strange cry near the Knik River bridge, something he described as part howl and part whine. He took the time to drive home, get a spotting scope, and return to the river. He learned it was a dog stranded on an island, and he saw the animal again on Thursday. His call to the Mat-Su Borough Animal Care and Regulation office prompted swift action. Animal control officer John Frey, Mat-Su Borough dive team deputy chief Ron Durheim and Alaska Airboats owner Leonard Haire raced to the bridge and set off in Durheim's boat.

The rescue was accomplished and the dog, emaciated and weak, was taken to the animal control shelter to recuperate. The dog will live, although Mat-Su Borough Department of Public Safety deputy director Dennis Brodigan estimated the animal was a couple of days from death when rescued. It's a story with a happy ending, although it doesn't really end there.

Durheim's response to the Akita's plight came despite most of the dive team's personnel and equipment being in Talkeetna taking care of flooding problems there. Durheim made the right call in deciding to stay in the Valley, coordinating the Talkeetna response from here while staying available for other emergencies.

Still, because the dive team doesn't have an airboat, pulling the frightened dog off the island happened only because a private citizen was willing to volunteer his own boat for the job. Although the river is running unusually deep in some places, others are shallow enough that the dive team's propeller boat couldn't have been used.

The team responded to eight instances of dogs having fallen through the ice last winter, Durheim said. An airboat would have helped in those cases, too, by providing rescuers with a safety margin.

And it's not just an animal issue.

With up to 1,000 people a day recreating on the Knik River during nice summer weekends, Durheim said, the dive team's job is getting more complicated all the time. Addition of an airboat to the equipment arsenal just might make the difference someday between a successful rescue or a disaster involving humans. That's something to consider during the borough's next budget discussions.

While saluting emergency responders regardless of agency, we must remember that they need proper tools -- not just courage -- to do their dangerous work.