FIREFIGHTERS waded waist deep into the fast-flowing River Wharfe to rescue a dog walker who became trapped on an island with her two pets and became ill.

Several fire crews were called to Beanlands Island, off Leeds Road, in Ilkley, last Wednesday afternoon after other walkers raised the alarm.

The woman, thought to be middle-aged and from the Otley area, was walking her two alsatian dogs on the wooded river island when rising river levels cut her off from the shore.

Firefighters, who worked with paramedics at the scene to assess her condition, used an inflatable boat to bring the stranded woman ashore.

It is believed she may have been suffering from diabetic hypoglycaemia and other walkers in the area spotted she was in trouble.

The emergency services were called to the scene shortly after 1pm.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service dispatched a rapid response unit and a hazardous area response team to the riverside.

Meanwhile, while firefighters from Ilkley, Otley, Brighouse and Leeds arrived at the scene and were joined by a specially trained and equipped water rescue team from Bingley fire station.

Fire engines parked on nearby Leeds Road.

The water rescue unit used an inflatable boat to ferry the woman to the paramedics who were on the riverbank, before returning to the island to rescue her two dogs.

The first fire crew on the scene was from Ilkley Fire Station, led by station manager Alex Watson.

He said: “As the first there we made contact with her. We managed to get two firefighters across to her and get her to a place of safety, and then Bingley’s water rescue used their sled, which is a flotation device, to convey her across the water.”

Mr Watson said firefighters who waded in were waist-deep in the water.

“It’s a fast-flowing river,” he said.

Mr Watson said the dogs were “very well behaved” during the incident.

The whole rescue took less than an hour to complete.

A spokesman for Yorkshire Ambulance Service confirmed it was called to the scene at about 1.09pm last Wednesday, and took a woman to Airedale General Hospital to receive treatment.

The River Wharfe at Ilkley is often used by West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service for water rescue training exercises, although Mr Watson said exercises are not carried out in the Beanlands Island area.