The Joint Emergency Services Support Unit (ESSU) of Lakewood – which consists of the Police Department, EMS, Volunteer First Aid and Hatzolah, held a joint training session yesterday simulating a cold water / ICE rescue.
The ESSU teams simulated a response for a person who fell through the ice and was not able to self extract themselves from the water. The team, which trained on a local lake body, entered into the water with cold water suits, practicing patient approach on the ice, securing rescue equipment to the patient and communicating with the responders on the shoreline via hand signals.
The recent swing in weather conditions makes the Ice look solid and safe but in reality is very unstable and will quickly crack and / or give way placing a person in the frigid water with difficulty pulling themselves out. The ESSU training gave the rescuers the opportunity to work in ice that is not quite fully frozen adding additional response techniques that needed to be deployed in order to successfully reach and retrieve a person.
The collective EMS divisions in Lakewood would like to remind you “No ice is Safe.”
[TLS-46]
shouldn’t they have done this at the beginning of the winter not now when it’s getting warm?
This has been done several times over the winter. It has become more common at the end of the winter when people are more encouragable to be on thin ice..now is when its more dangerous when the ice is thinning out