Dog rescued from freezing river in Buckhurst Hill

Firefighters have rescued a dog from a freezing cold river in Buckhurst Hill.

The jack russell, called Jessie, was out for a walk with its owner and managed to get stuck in the river.

Firefighters managed make their way down the embankment and grabbed the dog from the freezing water.

Jessie was shivering, but otherwise unhurt.

Watch Manager Alan Beddall, from Loughton Fire Station, said: “Jessie has been very lucky – and we are just so relieved that we were able to rescue the dog and the owner didn’t put themself in danger and to try and rescue the dog.

“When we managed to get the dog out, it was shivering but seemed to be ok.

“Incidents like this show how easy it is for dogs to get into trouble when out walking in these freezing conditions. We want to reiterate that owners should never attempt to save their dogs themselves – call 999 – and leave it to us to rescue them safely. It only takes minutes for cold water to kill, we don’t want anyone to put themselves at risk.”