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Good weekend for ice holes

Rescue groups take to Yellow Lake for ice training exercise on the weekend


Several members from area search and rescue teams, along with two local fire departments took part in ice rescue exercises at Yellow Lake this weekend.

The weekend course followed a similar session that took place two weeks ago at the popular ice fishing lake.

The classes were taught by instructors from Rescue Canada, a private company out of Chilliwack that specializes in water rescue techniques.

Four instructors from the company trained 19 students on the weekend during an exercisethat involved three hours of classroom instruction followed by a couple of hours on the ice at Yellow Lake on Saturday, January 19. The students returned for more practical instruction on the lake on Sunday.

Master Rescue Instructor Michael Stegemann  said that the lake had excellent ice conditions on teh weekend, compared to the class two weeks ago, when the lake had just begun to freeze. On Saturday, the ice was eight inches thick, with a well consolidated slush layer underneath. The group chainsawed two roughly 10 by 10 foot holes in the ice, and the class took turns practicing self  and rope rescue techniques on Saturday, Third party rescue training followed on Sunday.

“People who fall through the ice can survive 45 minutes to an hour in the water,”  Stegemann pointed out, “the issue is incapacitance from the cold, which can happen in five minutes or less.” Without appropriate equipment, or an awareness of self rescue techniques, the inability to move once immersed in the freezing water is the greatest threat. Stegemann said that the best precaution ice fishers could take is to wear a personal floatation device (PFD).

Students were equipped with rescue gear which included survival dry suits. After some initial trepidation, the class took to the two ice holes, each one taking turns jumping into the frigid water. What intitially looked like an exercise in insanity quickly became a unique adventure for the students, who happily - and comfortably, apparently - plunged into Yellow Lake over and over again.

“It takes about 15 minutes to get all the gear on,” explained Kyle Fosset, a member of the Oliver - Osoyoos SARteam who had taken the course previously and was observing Saturday’s session. “Firefighters tend to be the first responders on scene for an ice rescue. The SAR teams would generally quickly follow.”

Members of the Keremeos Volunteer Fire Department, The Penticton Fire Department, Oliver - Osoyoos Search and Rescue and Penticton Search and Rescue all sent members to participate in the weekend training.