In a bizarre combination of misfortune and good luck, a 44-year-old Ellicott City man fell through the ice Sunday into frigid Centennial Lake but was rescued by a county fire unit that was conducting an ice rescue exercise nearby.

Justin Giron was walking his two dogs near the lake about 10 a.m. when his year-old Australian shepherd named Charlie ran onto the ice and fell in. Giron tied his other dog, a Shih Tzu named Chewie, to a tree and went after Charlie.

Giron crawled onto the ice and broke through about 40 feet from the shore, he said. He lifted his dog to safety but became stuck himself, submerged up to his armpits, forcing a rescue.

"I'll tell you what scared me - coming back and realizing I couldn't get up," said Giron, a database engineer who served in the Army for eight years. "I went underneath the ice, and my head couldn't break through it. It freaked me out."

In a moment of "absolute luck," members of the county's Department of Fire and Rescue Services happened to be conducting an ice rescue exercise 300 feet away along the lake, said Howard County Assistant Fire Chief John Jerome.

Andy Hoffman, a firefighter and paramedic, said his crew was nearly finished "when one of the joggers came up to us and said, 'There's somebody stuck out on the water.' We ran up there."

Capt. Sean Utz tried to throw a life-saving rope bag out to Giron, but it didn't reach. So Hoffman, wearing his ice rescue suit, ventured onto the ice.

Hoffman said the crew was able to get to Giron within "four or five" minutes. He said Giron looked "pretty exhausted, pale and [was] not saying a whole lot."

Giron suffered moderate hypothermia but was out of the hospital the same day.

"I got the opportunity to talk to the guys who pulled me out," Giron said. "I'm really grateful that they were there. They were prepared and professional.

"When I met Andy, I kind of got misty-eyed," Giron said. There was a certain bond there. He saved my life."

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