With the warmer weather quickly approaching, residents are being encouraged to stay off of the ice.
“From an emergency response perspective, we’re concerned when anybody is out on the ice, especially when winter is ending and spring is coming,” noted Bonnyville Regional Fire Authority (BRFA) chief Jay Melvin. “It’s very hard to judge the thickness of the ice, and what the ice can handle if there’s any hidden cracks in it.”
Even with lighter vehicles, such as ski-doos, Melvin noted people should still be aware of the hazards.
“You really need to look at all aspects when you’re out ice fishing, when you’re enjoying that recreational activity. But, you also need to understand the dangers. Not only the dangers to yourself but, the danger to the rescuers who have to try and come out and get you and either help get you off the ice or the equipment to get it off the ice.”
Stephen Medford, president for Bonnyville Search and Rescue, noted there are three rules of thumb that will tell you how strong the ice is.
“If you can see the ice, and it’s a clear, blue tinge to it, that’s kind of the hardest ice there is out there, the safest ice to be on. If it’s opaque, a little white, that basically means there’s wet snow that has come down to the ice and frozen to it, that’s the second hardest,” he explained.
He continued, “The least hardest ice that basically you shouldn’t be walking on, much less driving on, is what they call grey ice. Basically, it has melted and the water has gone up into it. It’s basically little pockets of water in the ice, which doesn’t make it very strong to walk or drive on.”
Thankfully, Melvin and Medford agreed calls for people, or vehicles, falling through the ice are low in the area.
“Especially this time of year, people are reluctant to go out on the ice with the warmer weather coming because there may be snow on top but the ice may be thin on the bottom. You don’t know until you’ve fallen in,” Melvin said.
Medford believes it’s more common for vehicles to become an issue.
“We’ve had a couple of weeks of warmer weather, and that started the ice melting... Then we had a few weeks, it’s cold weather but it’s not freezing weather. You can walk on the ice, and maybe drill through the ice for a nice hole for fishing, but, that truck weighs several hundred pounds... The sun comes out and while you’re trying to fish and your bodies not giving off a lot of heat, that truck is sucking the heat from the sun and reflecting it to the ice. After a while, it’s going to go through.”
In the event that someone does fall through the ice, Medford stressed the importance of trying not to panic.
“Put your arms and legs out to try and make your body as wide as possible. When you try to get your body back up onto the ice, don’t try to grab the ice and push yourself up to standing on it because you’ll come down through that ice,” he said, adding it’s important to crawl your way across until you reach land, and to try to find shelter to dry off.
Paying attention to the weather and having a plan in place in the event of an emergency were a couple of suggestions Melvin offered.
“Whether it’s a vehicle falling through the ice, or you have a medical emergency on the ice, or whatever it may be. You really need to have a plan in place to protect yourself in the event that something does go wrong. “
