Firefighters Train For Cold Water Rescues
BOWLEYS QUARTERS, Md. (WJZ) -- With a cold winter like this, ponds and lakes have frozen over. Some people every year push their luck and fall through thin ice.
Mike Schuh reports on how some county fire departments are ready for just such an incident.
Volunteer firefighters are wearing a special $500 suit that keeps them from freezing. Regular people don't have the suits and without such a life saver, people who happen to be in such rigid temperatures have just minutes in this water.
"Hypothermia can set in very rapidly," said Shannon Stallings, Bowleys Quarters Volunteer Fire Department.
The slang in the business is popsicle. A victim loses so much heat so quickly, their arms and legs stop working.
"Yes, most of the time by the time we reach them, they are little to no help in a rescue," said Stallings.
Even in the best of circumstances, it's nearly impossible to get out of a hole in the ice. But with six trained departments, it's possible to live.
On Saturday, 43 people were trained to save people from freezing water.
They hope for a cold snap, so they can get in a winter training class on how to save those who fall through.
"We have some members who've never been in the water. The suits are very cumbersome," said Stallings. "The mobility is very limiting, like being in a gummy suit, like wearing six or seven layers of clothing at one time."
Quickly, the suit gives the training firefighters confidence.
"It's an eerie feeling, because you know you're in cold water, but you can't tell until water splashes up on your face," said Jeremy Heinz, Bowleys Quarters Volunteer Fire Department.
They know that Mother Nature would be cruel to them if they were in regular clothes.
"You always build confidence when you train. What you lack in experience you should make up for in training," said Stallings.
Untrained civilians should never try to get on the ice. If it couldn't support one victim, it won't support two. Just throwing a weighted rope to the victim is encouraged.
