DELAFIELD, Wisconsin — A plane carrying three people and over 50 dogs crashed onto the Western Lakes Golf Club course in this town about 30 minutes west of Milwaukee on Tuesday morning.
Lake Country Fire & Rescue responded to a call of a downed aircraft around 9:04 a.m., according to Assistant Chief Matthew Haerter. The first unit arrived five minutes later to find a twin-engine plane on the third hole as heavy snow conditions hit the area. The course is at W287 N1963 Oakton Road.
Club General Manager Jason Hoelz told the Journal Sentinel that a few staff members were performing maintenance on the course a few hundred feet away when they heard and saw the plane coming down.
“I was in a building up here and didn’t hear anything, but there was a couple employees working on the course that heard this plane coming down and witnessed it hitting the fifth green, crashing between two trees, (going) through a marsh and another 100 feet through the second hole fairway and onto the third hole, where it uprooted another tree and came to a rest,” Hoelz said. “In total, it skidded around a few hundred yards.”
The wings of the plane reportedly came off on the fifth hole where it initially struck the ground, which caused what fuel was in the plane to spill onto the course and part of a marshland water feature. The plane can hold up to 300 gallons of jet fuel. It is unclear at this time how much spilled or the impact it had on the wetland.
“I’m just happy we were able to help any way we could and glad we were on scene quickly and were able to provide some assistance,” Hoelz said.
The plane was reportedly flying from New Orleans to Waukesha to deliver 53 dogs to the Humane Animal Welfare Society of Waukesha. Three adults were also on the plane and were assessed and treated at the scene before being taken to a local trauma center with non-life-threatening injuries.
Immediately after the crash, Hoelz said that his staff jumped into action. They pulled the three passengers from the plane and also gathered the dogs in their crates. Some crates were damaged, but the staff were able to round up the dogs and all were brought to the maintenance building until HAWS arrived.
Some of the 53 dogs sustained minor injuries like “bumps and scrapes that will be monitored over the next couple of days but are expected to be good to go and ready for adoption as scheduled”, according to HAWS Director of Organizational Development Maggie Tate-Techtmann.
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