APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Every year, fire officials stress the importance of ice safety, and a rescue in Appleton serves as yet another reminder of why it needs to be taken seriously.
“Don’t trust any ice,”said Neenah-Menasha Fire Rescue Assistant Fire Chief Jim Peglow. “There is no safe ice out there.”
As ice fishing season continues, local fire departments are urging people to be cautious before they get on the ice and before they start drilling any holes.
“If you do venture out onto the ice, floatation device suits for ice fishing are great things to have,” Peglow said. “Talk to the local fishing clubs and get information from them. Talk to the people that are out on the ice routinely because they’re going to tell you places to avoid and what the thicknesses are.”
Peglow said every year his department responds to roughly eight to 10 calls of someone falling in the ice.
“Unfortunately, it’s more common than you think. You probably don’t hear about all of the rescues — everybody falling in.”
Many ice fishers understand the risks and make double-checking the ice their top priority.
“I usually come out with a hand chisel, check it and make sure or look and see if anyone’s out there,” local fisher Dan VandeVoort said. “If there’s guys out there, it’s usually pretty safe.”
VandeVoort said he loves being out on a frozen lake. But it’s not worth putting himself or anyone else in harm’s way.
“You get some guys that are careless, that want to go out on two to three inches of ice — but not me. It’s gotta be six inches before I’ll go out.”
Fire department staff want to prevent people falling in altogether. However, they know it can happen at any time or place. They understand that and prepare accordingly.
“We have many different suits here that are protecting our firefighters as we go in,” Peglow said. “These suits float and they’re waterproof. They can go in there and spend literally hours in the water and still be safe and continue to work and do rescues.”
If you do fall through the ice, firefighters say you should try to pull yourself out and then roll away instead of immediately standing up. That helps disperse the weight on the ice.
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