FOND DU LAC, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – In a one week span, authorities in Fond du Lac responded to 2 emergency calls on Lake Winnebago.
One of those calls happened Sunday morning around 2:30 and officials believe alcohol was a factor in both incidents.
After a late night out at the bars in Fond du Lac, officials say a 42-year-old Fond du Lac man wandered onto the frozen waters of Lake Winnebago.
When he realized he was lost, he dialed 911.
Capt. Joe Maramonte with the Fond du Lac Fire Department tells FOX 11…
“They were able to ping his cellphone and get a general location.”
Maramonte said they found the man about a quarter mile off shore, unresponsive and underdressed.
The man was taken to St. Agnes Hospital for hypothermia.
During the time of the rescue, Maramonte says the air temperature was about 12 degrees with wind speeds between 10-15 miles per hour.
“The lake is not the place to be walking around as anywhere if its cold outside and if you had a few to drink.”
Maramonte says it’s fortunate the man had his phone, otherwise it could have turned tragic like the case with Lindsley Klima.
Klima died nearly a week ago from exposure of the cold coming back from a New Years party.
Her body was found in the same area where the man was rescued.
“We haven’t had a ton of these over the years. I think two in a span of a week is pretty high,” said Maramonte.
Paramedic Lieutenant, Rick Faris said alcohol mixed with the frigid temperatures can be dangerous.
“Alcohol is a vessel dilator; it dilates the capillary beds in your skin. So, blood will flow there and it’ll give you a false sense of being warm especially with heavy drinking; that’ll just increase the amount of heat lost in the cold.”
Faris said if your body temperature falls to 95 degrees, you are considered hypothermic.
At 93 to 86 degrees you can become unconscious and shivering will stop.
“At 86 degrees you are unconscious at that point and then cardiac dysrhythmia can set in,” said Faris.
Officials are urging people to use common sense when drinking and they add hypothermia can still happen in warmer weather.
