Two people and two dogs were rescued after falling through ice on Lake DuBay in Portage County on Dec. 2, county officials said.

The incident began in the mid-afternoon when emergency crews were dispatched to the shoreline near the 4500 block of Brockhaus Lane in the Town of Eau Pleine. The Portage County Sheriff’s Office said the call came in about 3:26 p.m. Dec. 2, and a news release outlining the response was issued by the sheriff’s office the next day.

Deputy Brad Mathwich of the Portage County Sheriff’s Office arrived on scene and entered the cold water to reach the victims. According to the sheriff’s office, Mathwich located a 54-year-old man and an 80-year-old woman struggling roughly 25 to 50 feet from the shoreline and guided both people back to shore. Medical personnel from the responding agencies evaluated the two on scene following the rescue.

Two dogs that had also fallen through the ice were farther out on the lake, more than 100 feet from shore, and were initially out of reach for the first responders working from the shoreline. A specialized ice-water rescue unit later recovered both animals. The dogs were taken to a local animal care facility for treatment and observation, the sheriff’s office said.

Multiple public safety organizations joined the response. The sheriff’s office said Portage County Ambulance Service, Rudolph Fire/Rescue/EMS, Stevens Point Water Rescue, Plover Water Rescue and the Town of Hull Fire Department assisted at the scene alongside the Portage County Sheriff’s Office. The combined response worked under cold conditions to reach and remove both the humans and the animals from the lake.

The sheriff’s office summarized the timeline and actions in a Dec. 3 news release posted at 11:51 a.m. CT, noting that the sequence of response began in the mid-afternoon hours on Dec. 2 and involved both shoreline and water-rescue operations. That release provided the sequence of events: initial dispatch, deputy arrival and entry into the water, the guided return of the two people to shore, and the subsequent recovery of the dogs by a specialized rescue unit.

Local media coverage of the incident detailed the deputy’s entry into icy water and the later recovery of the dogs by the specialized team. Reporting by the Stevens Point Journal and television coverage by WAOW described the rescue operations and listed the agencies that responded, echoing the sheriff’s office account.

By the time the sheriff’s office issued its Dec. 3 update, officials said both people and both dogs had been removed from the lake and evaluated by responders and animal-care staff. The dogs were transported to a local animal care facility for further treatment and observation, while the two people were evaluated by medical personnel at the scene.

The sheriff’s office news release served as the primary official account of the incident, and local news outlets supplemented the release with on-scene reporting. Authorities did not provide additional details about the condition of the two people or the dogs in the release, beyond confirming that all had been taken from the water and assessed by medical and animal-care professionals.

The Portage County Sheriff’s Office and the participating agencies were credited in media reports for coordinating the multiagency response that brought people and animals to safety amid cold conditions on the lake. For those seeking more detailed local coverage, the Stevens Point Journal and WAOW published reports that followed the sheriff’s office release and provided on-scene descriptions of the rescue.