Travis the Hero

My Brother in Law, Travis, is an insurance sales man by day and hero by night. Brad was talking to his Mom last night and she told him he should get online and look at the front page of the South Idaho Press (the Mini-Cassia newspaper) and read about his hero brother. Travis is a volunteer for the Heyburn Fire Department and last night a man and his dog had fallen through the ice into the Snake River about 50 feet from the shore. The dog, a bermese mountain dog weighing 90lbs, fell through first and his owner tried to rescue him by getting in an inflatable boat tube and pushing his way out to the dog. When he tried to pull his dog out the tube tipped over causing him to fall through the ice about 4 feet from his dog. I guess the sheriffs department received a call when the dog fell through the water but they wouldn't respond because they won't put rescuers lives in danger to rescue an animal. I don't think I agree with that but anyway when the man fell through they responded (if they responded in the first place he wouldn't have had to go out on the ice to get his dog, of course someone is going to try and rescue his dog). Travis was one of the responders and being the lightest one there at 5'7'' 140 lbs he volunteered to go out on the ice to rescue the man. He was quoted in the paper saying "I just happened to be the smallest one there so I volunteered to go out. I was ready to get in the water, do whatever it took to save him." After being tied to a rope that was held by the other firefighters on shore he crawled out on the ice with a backboard. He put his hands on the backboard and used his knees to push forward, trying to spread his weight as evenly as possible over the ice. He said he wasn't afraid because adrenaline took over and "it was a good feeling to know you have all those people on land with the line. It took a lot of the fear away." He got about 15 feet from the man and threw the backboard to him. Luckily the man in the water was strong enough to hold on to the handles and the firemen on shore pulled him out of the hole and to shore. Being the amazing man he is Travis then set off to save the dog. He used the mans boat tube and made his way out to the dog. When he got close to the dog he said "I saw the dog start to give up and he started going under the water." Knowing things were critical, with the ice breaking beneath him and the dog about to give up he tried to pull the dog out by his collar but the collar came off his neck, he then grabbed as much scruff as he could with one hand and managed to grab one of his legs with the other as the firemen on shore pulled him out of the water and back to shore. Both man and dog are fine. That is pretty amazing since they were probably in the water at least 30 minutes. Way to go Travis!!

Travis is one of the greatest people I know and while he is being called a hero in this situation (and he is) there are many times Travis is a hero when the spotlight isn't on him and no one is watching. He has the greatest heart and would do anything for anyone. Anyone who knows him loves him. I am proud to be able to call him my brother.