Two Kan. Girls Rescued After Falling Through Ice

Two young girls were cold but well after being rescued by a man who saw them fall through thin ice on a pond behind a group of houses 3 miles east of Hutchinson early Sunday afternoon.

Sheriff's officers and firefighters credited Bud Brown of 901 Devena with saving the girls, ages 6 and 7, who were visiting relatives up the street.

Brown said he and a friend were talking when the friend said that two girls, later identified as Jenna McKay, 6, of Bernice, Okla., and Janessa Stringer, 7, of Belle Plaine, were walking on the ice in back of Brown's house. Brown got up to take a look just as the ice gave way and they fell into the water about 20 feet from the shore.

Brown said he called 911, ran outside and called to them to try to crawl up onto the ice. "The little one just about could, but then when the other followed her, they both fell through," Brown said.

The water was over the head of the younger girl.

Brown started to look for a rope in his nearby shed, then changed his mind. He tossed his phone and billfold on the bank and waded into chest deep water, breaking the ice with his fists until he reached the girls and pulled them out.

"It was scary for a bit, but I got 'em," he said.

Not knowing who the girls were visiting, Brown took them inside his house and wrapped them in bath towels while awaiting ambulances and a fire department rescue team to arrive.

The girls were taken to Hutchinson Regional Medical Center, where they were in stable condition late Sunday afternoon.

Deputy John Orrison wrote in an email to Sheriff Randy Henderson, which was forwarded to The News by Henderson, that he "will write a formal letter asking that Mr. Brown receive some type of recognition for his actions."

McClatchy-Tribune News Service