TOLEDO, Ohio — Life-saving training happened in west Toledo on Tuesday. Toledo Fire's Ice Rescue Division was out practicing on a pond in Sleepy Hollow Park.
Team members plunged into the icy water, tethered to shore and staged a rescue.
The Ice Rescue Division teamed up with other first responders to practice this life-threatening situation.
"There's a lot of equipment and it's very time-sensitive and labor-intensive so we need a lot of help from our out-lying companies. That's what they're out here for today," Lt. Greg Yingling of the Ice Rescue Division said.
The motto is "no ice is safe ice."
If someone has fallen through that means the rescue crew will, too. So, the best thing to do is try and rescue from the shore with ropes.
If not, members of the ice rescue division will go in with protective gear, tethered to shore, all while talking to the victim.
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"As they go out there, they encourage them, they talk to them and get the mental frame of mind and then they decide the best way to apply whatever tool they use to get them out," Yingling said.
The Ice Rescue Division typically trains on small ponds with no moving current underneath.
The mild winter means the ice is particularly dangerous.
"It's scary for us. It got cold enough to make ice, but it got warm enough for it to get thin and it's got very little compressive strength so if people are out there, they're going through," Yingling said.
The ice rescue division warns folks to stay off the ice and if someone you're with goes through, don't go in after them.
"The best thing you can do is use your voice to encourage them, get them to kick their feet maybe get their elbows on the ice. if you have something to throw, that's key," Yingling said.
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