TOLEDO, Ohio — As we deal with this bitter cold, people are going to go out on the ice and unfortunately, some of them are going to fall though.
But there are trained professionals in the area ready to jump in, like the ice rescue team with the Washington Township Fire Department. Chief Ron Kay says it's a special unit.
"Ice rescue is a very low frequency, but it's a very high risk situation for us," Kay said.
Rivers, ponds and even Lake Erie are covered in ice as Old Man Winter bears down on northwest Ohio. Washington Township Fire's ice rescue team hasn't had a call yet this season but that's not stopping them from being prepared.
"We've been seeing a lot of activity," Kay said, "snow mobilers, ice boats, all types of recreational equipment out there, going up and down the river."
WTOL 11 reporter Michael Tatar suited up, went out to the Ottawa River and even jumped in the water to play the victim for the unit for the team. One of the rescuers came out and pulled him out of the water while several team members were on shore helping keep both the victim and their teammate safe.
"We can train as often as we want," assistant chief Tom Yunker said, "we still don't know what's going on underneath and that's where a lot of people don't realize when you look at the ice, you see ice, you don't know how bad that current running underneath is."
Everything from putting on the mustang suit to actually going out on the ice to save someone requires a team and it's teamwork that keeps everyone safe out on the ice.
"The unpredictability, the environments we go out into, the cold, the unpredictable ice," Kay added, "out at night when visibility is really, low, so it's very high risk for us."
Yunker added that the members of the team put in a lot of extra hours to get properly trained and be prepared for these calls.
"It's take a lot of dedication by our members," he said, "a lot of specialized equipment and just going above and beyond, this is not a normal activity for the fire department."
Yunker added that people should not be going out on the ice unless it's at least five inches thick. But he noted even then, the conditions a few feet away could be different. If you are going to go out on the ice, consider wearing proper equipment like a wet suit in case you do fall through the ice.