KEWAUNEE COUNTY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Some scary moments Thursday morning for some ice fishermen on the waters of Green Bay.
Six people were rescued as the ice they were on broke away from shore.
“We got a call from dispatch. People in distress. A chunk of ice had moved away from shore. Two different groups, I don’t believe at the time they knew they were in trouble,,” said Capt. Norman Heraly, New Franken Fire Department.
Heraly tells FOX 11 springtime typically brings wind and warmer temperatures to the waters of Green Bay. Red River County Park got both Thursday morning.
“The ice cracked away from the shoreline, moved out about 40 feet.”
“It’s very scary,” said Kao Xiong, Madison.
Xiong, his wife and two brothers took to the ice at about 7 a.m. A couple hours later their way back to shore was gone, and the four had to be rescued.
A second pair of anglers used a snowmobile to get to their spot, about a quarter mile to the north. The Luxemburg Community Fire Department rescue boat picked the two fishermen off the ice and guided them into their craft around 11 a.m.
“They’re good. Everybody’s off. Ice conditions are terrible, in my opinion. I don’t think you should be on it. That’s a personal opinion,” said Heraly.
A Department of Natural Resources warden says the six fishermen were not issued any citations.
The owner of the snowmobile has 30 days to get the machine off the ice.
Meanwhile, several more people were rescued in a separate incident near Sturgeon Bay.
The U.S. Coast Guard says around noon, a person reported that he was in a group of people and ice shanties that were stuck on a section of ice that had broken loose and was drifting into the bay.
Because a large number of people were on the floe, the Coast Guard sent two helicopters from Traverse City, Michigan, as well as an ice boat and airboat from its Sturgeon Bay station. Coast Guard Cutter Mobile Bay served as an on-ice coordinator for the rescue.
The Coast Guard rescued 10 people from the ice floe, while the others were able to get off the ice using their own vessels.
