The Crookston Firefighters took to the river Thursday evening for their monthly training to practice ice and water rescues.
Crookston Firefighter Bob Magsam said the fire department likes to brush up on those skills as the weather warms and deteriorates the ice conditions. “Every spring, we try to brush up on our skills for ice/cold water rescue,” said Magsam. “We all know with warm weather right around the corner; ice conditions are going to change rapidly. There are still a lot of people out there that want to do some outdoor activities on the ice and enjoy. In case something goes wrong, we want to be brushed up on our skills and be ready at any moment.”
Magsam said they practice a couple of different types of water rescues to be prepared for any situation. “Typically, if somebody were to fall through the ice, we go with a no-contact approach first,” said Magsam. “That’s for the safety of the victim and the rescuer. We try to use ladders. We have a rapid deployment craft, pike poles, specialized equipment that they have. Last case scenario, if they are far enough out on the water that we can’t reach them from the shore, we’d have to incorporate our cold-water ice rescue suits nicknamed Gumby suits. We’d have rescuers go out and enter the water to retrieve an individual that fell through.”
The firefighters also use the time to practice safely moving a victim up the steep banks of the Red Lake River. “As our river winds through town, it pre(s)ents a lot of different challenges for us,” said Magsam. “A lot of different locations with steep banks. The second scenario that we’re challenging the crew with is simulating a snowmobile crash or something along those lines on the river. We have a weighted dummy that we have down on the ice. The goal is to utilize ropes, backboards, stokes baskets, and different means to get them up and transported over to EMS.”
Magsam also encouraged people to use caution as the ice conditions change. “We’re going to see some dramatic changes in ice conditions in the next week to 10 days with the really nice, warm weather we’re having,” said Magsam. “In the river in Crookston, we have a lot of runoff that gets into the storm sewers and goes right to the river. That helps deteriorate the ice conditions. So, we encourage everybody as things start to thaw and change to use a lot of extra caution. Error on the side of precaution and maybe stay off the ice and wait until next winter.”
The Minnesota DNR tracks ice conditions across the state (here), and Magsam said they’ll issue recommendations as the conditions shift. “You’ll follow what DNR recommends,” said Magsam. “They have control of the waterway. They’ll be releasing some safety announcements as conditions start to change. We emphasize and reiterate what they have to say. And hope everybody stays safe, spring gets here, and summer follows.”
