Couple OK after truck falls through ice

BIG LAKE — A husband and wife found out the hard way Tuesday morning the danger of driving in the channels of Big Lake after their pickup broke through the ice between Flat Lake and Mud Lake.

The Big Lake and Meadow Lakes Ambulance and Ice Rescue team responded to the mid-morning call, using a ladder to get the man and woman to shore.

The couple was standing on the pickup’s roof when rescuers arrived. Officials said they suffered mild hypothermia. Names of the couple have not been released by officials.

The pickup was almost completely submerged, with water half way up the windshield. Just after the victims and rescue workers left the scene Tuesday, the pickup remained running with the windshield wipers still operating beneath the water. An area of noticeably thin ice floated around the pickup, though it was unclear how the ice appeared before the accident.

Big Like Fire Chief Bill Gamble said the accident shows the inherent danger of driving on the channels of Big Lake.

“Although the ice in most locations is approximately 13 inches, Big Lake is notorious for swift warm water currents in many locations, especially between Big Lake and Flat Lake, and Flat Lake and Mud Lake,” Gamble said in an e-mail.

Even when it is really cold — the temperature Tuesday morning was minus-7 — and the lake ice appears OK, the channels are “definitely thinner,” Gamble said.

It’s unknown what will happen to the pickup in the water, and no plans have been announced to pull it out.

The incident is already a fixture on the home page of flatlake.com, a Web sited devoted to the area.

Larry Taylor, who runs the site and lives in the Flat Lake area, said vehicles falling through the ice is a common occurrence, especially in the channels.

“In those channels the ice is thin,” Taylor said Thursday. “Anyone who tries to go through the channels sinks.”

Even before the Tuesday’s accident happened, a warning midway down flatlake.com’s homepage warned motorists not to drive through the channels.

The site even has a section of photos showing vehicles that have broken through the ice in the past.

Taylor said the biggest problem with sunken vehicles is the ecological impact they could have on the lake. He recounted one accident where a work truck with a full barrel of fuel fell into the lake, where ice fishing is a popular pasttime.

Luckily, Taylor said he hasn’t known of anyone perishing when their vehicle went through the ice in the Flat Lake area.

But enough cars and trucks go through to make him a very busy webmaster.

“It happens enough here to populate a Web site,” he said.

Contact Michael Rovito at michael.rovito@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.