Girdwood firefighters narrowly rescued a woman who got stuck in the quicksand-like mud on Turnagain Arm as the tide rushed in Friday.

The woman was hooligan fishing with a group of people on the mudflats outside of the Twentymile River boat ramp when she got stuck in the fine mud, over her boots and up to her knees, said Captain Josh Heuer of the Girdwood Fire Department.

"With how the mud works out there, it's kind of like quicksand," Heuer said. "Once it has you, it's like a vacuum."

Making matters worse: The tide was coming in. Fast.

A member of the fishing group had a cell phone and called for help, Heuer said.

An Anchorage police officer officer waded into the water — in uniform — to help the woman while Girdwood firefighters were on their way to the scene, said Anita Shell of the Anchorage Police Department.

When Girdwood firefighters arrived around 2:40 p.m. the cold, silty water was around the woman's hips.

Trained swimmers surrounded her and used a mud rescue tool that works by pumping water at high velocity at the mud to break it up and loosen the suction.

As they worked, the frigid water was rising. By the time they had freed her, the gray water was up to her chest, he said.

The woman, who was not identified, was treated for mild hypothermia at the scene.

The mud rescue team is called out a half-dozen or so times every summer, Heuer said. Most of the time it turns out to be a false alarm or someone only mildly stuck in the mud. When someone's in up to about their knees it usually takes help to get them out, he said.