Ice rescue turns foul: Monroe fire department saves fake goose

Monroe Township — For the Monroe Township Fire Department, no one gets left behind in the cold — including, apparently, fake geese.

The fire department received a call Tuesday afternoon from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources for a rescue of what appeared to be a duck or goose stuck in the ice on the River Raisin in Waterloo Park. 

The fire department flew into action, sending a crew of two along with a standby unit dressed in ice water suits. Once they made it out onto the precarious ice, the would-be rescuers realized there was something foul about the situation: The imperiled Canada goose was a decoy. 

"The 'goose' is safe and resting here at the fire station,” Fire inspector Calvin Schmitt said Tuesday afternoon. “We ended up using the incident as a training session."

The false alarm didn't ruffle any feathers, he said. "We aren’t upset that we went out to try and retrieve it, because what if a citizen went out and tried to rescue it on their own? That could have created two potential hazards."

For now, Schmitt says, the “goose” has become apart of the department's family and the public can plan to see a few memes of it in the near future. 

“The guys are having fun with it."