Training for an icy rescue

Photo: Mike Biden

The Penticton Fire Department has been honing their ice rescue techniques all week in Okanagan Lake.

Deputy Fire Chief Dave Spalding says different crews have been taking turns in the icy water, getting comfortable with the equipment, falling through the ice and with assisting both a live and unconscious victim. Protected by thermal suits, each firefighter also takes a turn playing victim.

The Penticton Fire Department responds to about two ice rescues a year, often it is a deer or dog stuck in ice, but an actual person isn’t all that uncommon.

With lakes and ponds freezing over for the first time this year, Spalding cautions that ice should be at least six inches thick before people start skating or ice fishing. He says they hold ice rescue training twice a year, with swift water rescue training planned for the spring.