Laconia has a full time, paid, fire department as opposed to a volunteer, on-call, dept. Guys at firestations usually have lots of time with not a whole lot to do, except preparation on their award-winning, firehouse chili. Thanks to wide use of smoke detectors, the number of fires, and calls to the firehouse is way down.
So, probably these guys were very gung-ho to get out on the thin ice and put all their ice-rescue skills and equipment to practice.
Basically, a practice drill with a deer would be a lot less intense than a real drill with a child.....and some adults.