Ice Rescue Leads To Training For Kids
December 17, 2019 at 2:18 a.m.
By Amanda [email protected]
The program is 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday and will be led by DNR officer Matt Maher, who’s been a conservation officer since 2013 and is one of only a handful in the state certified as a surface ice rescue trainer.
Winona Lake Town Marshal Joe Hawn reached out to partner with DNR after Winona officers helped save an 11-year-old boy who had fallen through thin ice Nov. 15.
Around 5:50 p.m. that day, WLPD officer Dave Swain was traveling through the intersection of CR 325E and Wooster Road with his lights on when off-duty Indiana State Police Trooper Jacob Bill saw and followed Swain to see if he could help.
Swain and Bill stopped just past the intersection and ran to a retention pond where several adults were yelling, “Over here!”
A child was seen approximately 25 yards out in the water that was about 6 to 7 feet deep, Hawn said. Five boys were playing on the thin ice that evening when one fell through and the others ran to the trailer park nearby to alert adults.
Bill and Swain were able to get to the boy, and WLPD Sgt. Joe Bumbaugh was able to help from shore and get all three out of the water.
Hawn said even though the officers were only in the water for about a minute, they were getting hypothermic.
The boy was treated and released from the hospital.
Maher said the range of advice he’ll give to the elementary students will cover rescue techniques and safety equipment.
“For the younger kids, first and foremost, you never go on the ice by yourself,” Maher said. “When people talk about what is safe ice, our rule of thumb is that no ice is considered safe because ice is such a dynamic thing and there’s so many different variables.”
Maher said he will talk about the depth of water and explain to the youngsters why that matters. For example, if they walk across a frozen puddle, they know if the ice breaks they’ll be standing. But if the water is deep enough that they could be fully submerged, then they don’t go on it unless they’re wearing a life jacket or a float coat.
“Then we’ll just talk about if you are gonna go on the ice, let’s say you’re playing hockey, or ice skating, in that case we always want to make sure that an adult has been notified about where it’s at, who is with you, and things of that nature, what time are you gonna be on the ice, what time are you gonna be done,” Maher said. “Very simple things.”
Kyle Brown, meteorologist with National Weather Service, North Webster office, said bodies of water won’t start to freeze until temperatures have been well below freezing for at least three days to a week.
He said ice is a dangerous thing, because in one place it could be solid ice and then another step later and you’re falling through.
“Sure, there’s water underneath, but that water is far from warm,” Brown said.
Maher also will talk to the students about hypothermia and how quickly that can set in.
“Hypothermia is different for everybody, because it’s based on your body composition, but it starts basically as soon as it hits 96 degrees or lower,” Maher said. “Water will absorb body heat 25 times faster than air, so if the water is 32 degrees and the outside air is 32 degrees, the water is gonna drain heat from your body 25 times faster.”
Maher said the first signs of hypothermia is shivering, which is the body attempting to create heat using the limbs.
“The second and most significant sign is the loss of your fine motor skills, so you can’t wiggle your toes, you can’t reach out and grab onto something, so if I were to throw you a rope and you’re in an advanced stage of hypothermia, that’s not going to help," he said.
Maher said the first thing anyone should do if someone’s fallen into the water is call 911 and get trained first responders en route.
“Then, the first thing we recommend after calling 911 is to try to find something – a tree branch, a hockey stick, a paddle, you know, whatever’s available, to reach out to them so that you could, from shore without you going into the water, then pull them from the ice,” he said.
“Then following that is throw, so we’re gonna throw something to them whether that’s a floatation device that would float, just whatever is going to help keep them on the surface of the water.”
Maher said DNR officers never recommend another person to enter onto the ice or into the water.
“You put a 200-pound adult on the ice that broke, well, now we’ve got two people in the water,” he said.
For adults to walk on ice, officers recommend a thickness of 4 inches of clear, lake ice, Maher said.
“That’s the ice that doesn’t have bubbles or snow mixed in with it.”
Lastly, Maher will talk about what to do once you get out of the water and how important it is to not warm the body up to quickly.
“Get out of the wet clothing, put on dry clothing and do not attempt to rapidly warm the victim up, because you can damage nerves, it can cause seizures, a stroke, even cardiac issues,” he said. “It’s a very slow warm.”?
Maher said during his career he’s responded to a couple dozen ice accidents, including vehicles that have fallen through, with a dozen of those within the last three years.
“It’s just something where we see a lot more people recreating on the ice, driving snowmobiles on the ice,” he said. “This is one of the highest counties with water, so we have a lot of accidents like that.”
To see WLPD body cam footage, visit www.timesuniononline.com.
The program is 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday and will be led by DNR officer Matt Maher, who’s been a conservation officer since 2013 and is one of only a handful in the state certified as a surface ice rescue trainer.
Winona Lake Town Marshal Joe Hawn reached out to partner with DNR after Winona officers helped save an 11-year-old boy who had fallen through thin ice Nov. 15.
Around 5:50 p.m. that day, WLPD officer Dave Swain was traveling through the intersection of CR 325E and Wooster Road with his lights on when off-duty Indiana State Police Trooper Jacob Bill saw and followed Swain to see if he could help.
Swain and Bill stopped just past the intersection and ran to a retention pond where several adults were yelling, “Over here!”
A child was seen approximately 25 yards out in the water that was about 6 to 7 feet deep, Hawn said. Five boys were playing on the thin ice that evening when one fell through and the others ran to the trailer park nearby to alert adults.
Bill and Swain were able to get to the boy, and WLPD Sgt. Joe Bumbaugh was able to help from shore and get all three out of the water.
Hawn said even though the officers were only in the water for about a minute, they were getting hypothermic.
The boy was treated and released from the hospital.
Maher said the range of advice he’ll give to the elementary students will cover rescue techniques and safety equipment.
“For the younger kids, first and foremost, you never go on the ice by yourself,” Maher said. “When people talk about what is safe ice, our rule of thumb is that no ice is considered safe because ice is such a dynamic thing and there’s so many different variables.”
Maher said he will talk about the depth of water and explain to the youngsters why that matters. For example, if they walk across a frozen puddle, they know if the ice breaks they’ll be standing. But if the water is deep enough that they could be fully submerged, then they don’t go on it unless they’re wearing a life jacket or a float coat.
“Then we’ll just talk about if you are gonna go on the ice, let’s say you’re playing hockey, or ice skating, in that case we always want to make sure that an adult has been notified about where it’s at, who is with you, and things of that nature, what time are you gonna be on the ice, what time are you gonna be done,” Maher said. “Very simple things.”
Kyle Brown, meteorologist with National Weather Service, North Webster office, said bodies of water won’t start to freeze until temperatures have been well below freezing for at least three days to a week.
He said ice is a dangerous thing, because in one place it could be solid ice and then another step later and you’re falling through.
“Sure, there’s water underneath, but that water is far from warm,” Brown said.
Maher also will talk to the students about hypothermia and how quickly that can set in.
“Hypothermia is different for everybody, because it’s based on your body composition, but it starts basically as soon as it hits 96 degrees or lower,” Maher said. “Water will absorb body heat 25 times faster than air, so if the water is 32 degrees and the outside air is 32 degrees, the water is gonna drain heat from your body 25 times faster.”
Maher said the first signs of hypothermia is shivering, which is the body attempting to create heat using the limbs.
“The second and most significant sign is the loss of your fine motor skills, so you can’t wiggle your toes, you can’t reach out and grab onto something, so if I were to throw you a rope and you’re in an advanced stage of hypothermia, that’s not going to help," he said.
Maher said the first thing anyone should do if someone’s fallen into the water is call 911 and get trained first responders en route.
“Then, the first thing we recommend after calling 911 is to try to find something – a tree branch, a hockey stick, a paddle, you know, whatever’s available, to reach out to them so that you could, from shore without you going into the water, then pull them from the ice,” he said.
“Then following that is throw, so we’re gonna throw something to them whether that’s a floatation device that would float, just whatever is going to help keep them on the surface of the water.”
Maher said DNR officers never recommend another person to enter onto the ice or into the water.
“You put a 200-pound adult on the ice that broke, well, now we’ve got two people in the water,” he said.
For adults to walk on ice, officers recommend a thickness of 4 inches of clear, lake ice, Maher said.
“That’s the ice that doesn’t have bubbles or snow mixed in with it.”
Lastly, Maher will talk about what to do once you get out of the water and how important it is to not warm the body up to quickly.
“Get out of the wet clothing, put on dry clothing and do not attempt to rapidly warm the victim up, because you can damage nerves, it can cause seizures, a stroke, even cardiac issues,” he said. “It’s a very slow warm.”?
Maher said during his career he’s responded to a couple dozen ice accidents, including vehicles that have fallen through, with a dozen of those within the last three years.
“It’s just something where we see a lot more people recreating on the ice, driving snowmobiles on the ice,” he said. “This is one of the highest counties with water, so we have a lot of accidents like that.”
To see WLPD body cam footage, visit www.timesuniononline.com.
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