A woman slid into frigid Lake Superior off the Duluth shore trying to retrieve her dog and was plucked from water several feet deep thanks to an industrious passerby and rescue personnel who shared their body heat with the victim once she was hoisted onto the ice shelf, authorities said.

The drama unfolded midafternoon Wednesday off Park Point, a sliver of land that juts from downtown Duluth.

Fire crew members were called to the scene below the Sky Harbor Airport shortly before 3 p.m. and saw a man throwing out to the woman two dog leashes that he had tied together, according to fire officials.

The visitor from the Twin Cities was walking her dog, which fell into the water, and she slid 6 to 8 feet down an ice bank into the lake in hopes of saving her pet, said Assistant Fire Chief Dennis Edwards.

Several firefighters and a police officer went onto the ice, ran roughly a quarter-mile and pulled the woman from water above her waist, Edwards said.

Once on the ice shelf, "four firefighters and a police officer embraced her" to preserve the woman's body heat until a specially modified utility vehicle arrived for her, Edwards said.

Back on land, the woman retrieved dry clothes from her vehicle, changed and was in no need of further medical attention, fire officials said.

The dog got out of the water on its own and came away from the incident just fine.

"The Duluth Fire Department would like to remind citizens of the ability for ice conditions to change at any time," the Fire Department statement read.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482