Ice skating, hockey, and bonfires on a frozen lake are traditional rites of winter when the weather cooperates. But, unfortunately, it’s also too common to hear of lake-related tragedies in our area that could have easily been avoided. In the last few years, several people have died after falling through lake ice, including two 15-year-old boys in Mount Olive, NJ. Several other people have also broken through while trying to save their dogs. 

As inviting as it is, a frozen lake is also a risky lake. Here are some things to keep in mind before venturing out onto the ice.

• Don’t go out on a freshly frozen lake alone. 

• Measure the thickness to ensure the ice is safe. Even if the ice looks solid, its thickness should be measured. Experts recommend that lake ice be at least four inches thick to support a person who is walking or skating on it. It should be even thicker to support several people together. There are people in the community with the experience to measure and evaluate lake ice, so please ask if you’re unsure.

• Ice seldom freezes uniformly. It may be several inches thick in one location and only an inch just a few feet away. So don’t go far from where a measurement has been taken. Ice near shore can be weaker than ice that’s further out. 

• If you see or hear ice cracking around you, quickly lie flat on the ice to distribute your weight over a greater area. Then crawl away. 

• Snow slows the freezing process and reduces how much weight the ice sheet can support.

• New ice is stronger than old ice. While four inches of clear, new ice may support a person, a foot or more of old, partially-thawed ice may not. 

  Note: Lake Lucille has four red rescue ladders positioned around the lake. For details on how to use them, see “What to do if someone else falls through” below.

What to do if you fall through.

Here are some key things to remember. Spread out your arms and legs as you fall to avoid going under water. Don’t panic; the cold shock that makes you hyperventilate usually lasts only about 1-4 minutes. And kick your legs to get your body horizontal, out of the water, and back onto the ice. 

Here’s the advice offered by most experts, and summarized here by West Bend Insurance in West Bend, Wisconsin:

1. Remain calm. If you fall through the ice, do your best to stay calm. While it’s a very scary situation, don’t flail your arms. This only wastes valuable body heat and energy. Concentrate on staying afloat. It’s estimated after about 10 minutes in the water, hypothermia will set in.

2. Focus on controlling your breathing. Due to the extreme coldness of the water, the shock to your body will be intense. Your body’s natural reaction is to gasp for air which can lead to hyperventilating. Hyperventilating can decrease your odds of getting out of the water alive.

3. Floating horizontal is key. If your body is vertical, it’s nearly impossible to pull yourself out. The ice is slippery, and your wet clothes may be weighing you down. Try to get yourself into a horizontal floating position. Then, kick as hard as you can to try and get yourself to slide horizontally onto the ice.

4. Call for help. If friends or family are nearby, call for help. However, it’s important that they stay away from the hole, so they don’t fall in. Their best option is to throw you a rope, branch, or anything that you can grab on to. Pulling you out is the safest option for everyone.

5. Don’t stand up. Once you get out of the water, your instinct may be to immediately stand up to walk back to shore. Standing up could cause you to fall back into the water. Your best chance of survival is to roll over the ice until you can reach safety.

6. Warm up slowly. Once you’ve made it back to safety, it’s time to start focusing on warming up your body. Hypothermia can still occur after getting out of the frigid water. 

In a worst-case scenario, LakeGeorge.com offers this additional advice:

• If you can't pull yourself out within 10 minutes from the time that you went in, cease all attempts. At this point, you need to extend the time period in which someone else could rescue you by conserving body heat. The body loses heat much faster in water than it does in air, so get as much of your body out of the water as possible.

• Keep your forearms flat and still on the ice. Hopefully, your clothing will freeze to the ice, possibly preventing you from going under, even if you become unconscious.

• It is possible to survive for up to 2 hours before succumbing to hypothermia. In other words, if you stay composed and keep above water, you have almost a 2 hour window of opportunity to be rescued.

To see live demonstrations of how to save yourself, watch this short video created by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and KARE 11, a MinneapolisTV station, or this more detailed one by the ReWildUniversity.

What to do if someone else falls through. 

The key in this situation is to react quickly but not hastily. Don’t become a second victim. Lake Lucille has four ice-rescue ladders distributed around the lake. Each can be pushed across the ice for the person to grab onto. Two of the ladders also have ropes to help pull the person out. Or you can use the ropes separately.

If you have someone to help, you can also use two ladders together to slide toward the person, as shown in this ice-rescue training video by the NYC Parks Department. The ladders distribute your weight across a wider area, helping to prevent you from breaking through as well. That said, the department says their ladders are intended for use by first responders, not the public.

The websites for Lake George and Truesdale Lake in South Salem, NY, provide this detailed guidance:

1. Keep calm and try to keep the victim calm.

2. Assess the availability of extra help. If possible, call 911 or look for people in the vicinity.

3. If you are on the ice, DO NOT run up to the hole. If you are on shore, DO NOT run onto the ice. The last thing you want to do is become a second victim. Tell the victim you are getting help; this reduces panic.

4. Use an item on shore to throw or extend to the victim that will allow you to pull them out of the water. (Rope, ladder, branch, extension cord, skis, jumper cable, etc.) You can also form a human chain with people lying flat on the ice to distribute the weight as evenly as possible. (If using an ice-rescue ladder) hold on to the rope and push the ladder out toward the victim. Then once they grab it, pull the rope. The ladder will help distribute their weight and thinner ice should hold them up. If the person can not hold the ladder, get a third person to hold the rope and the rescuer can carefully crawl out on the ladder to grab the victim.

5. Once the victim is safely on shore, they may seem to be in relatively good condition. However, a potentially fatal condition called “after drop” can occur soon afterward. Cold blood that has been pooled in the body's extremities starts to circulate again as the body warms up. At this point, the body begins to shiver violently in an attempt to raise the core temperature again.

6. Never rub the victim’s arms, hands, legs or feet, as this could cause or exacerbate the  “after drop”.

7. Never give the victim alcohol or caffeinated products. They restrict the blood vessels and slow circulation.

8. If possible, exchange wet clothes for dry clothes, wrap the victim in a blanket and get the victim out of the elements.

9. Get an ambulance or rescue squad to the scene as fast as possible.