Icy proposition

Rescue team suits up for winter drill

November 22, 2005

DAWN DE BUSK/Frontiersman reporter

WASILLA - With so many avid outdoors people in the Valley and so many remote places to play, people often find themselves in a predicament when they fall through thin or rotting ice.

&#8220Time is not on anybody's side when this happens,” Mat-Su's chief of water rescue, Tim Kelahan, said.

The likelihood of surviving such a mishap can be greatly increased by being prepared prior to braving the elements to engage in ice fishing, ice skating or snowmachining. The No. 1 rule in dealing with frozen bodies of water is to never trust the ice.

&#8220Don't count on the ice being safe, even if you were on it yesterday,” Kelahan said.

To make water rescue during the winter months even more effective, Kelahan and six members of the Mat-Su Borough's Water Rescue Team spent Saturday afternoon practicing rescue scenarios in Wasilla Lake.

Across the lake, where the ice was thick enough, a few people were ice fishing.

However, some open water where Cottonwood Creek feeds into Wasilla Lake provided a prime place for the team members to play victim or rescuer, while geared from head to toe in drysuits.

Kelahan drilled a hole about 40 feet from the shore so the team could use longer ropes, practice staging a second rescuer on the ice and react to having a team member fall though ice during a rescue attempt.

The two-hour hands-on session allowed the water rescue volunteers

to get accustomed to the drysuits and necessary gear like ropes and buoys, as well as learn how to handle different situations, Kelahan said.

&#8220You see how after a while, it seems like everyone is playing around. That means they've gotten comfortable with their suits. They're learning to trust their gear, and when they do that they can focus on successful rescues,” he said.

As a gentle snowfall continued to accumulate, the group kept rotating. One person was in the water - waving and yelling. One person crawled across the ice with a rope attached to the vest by a carabiner. Another person on shore guided the rope, watching and waiting for the signal to pull the victim safely out of the water. A couple of backup people helped with the rope.

In a real-life situation, both the victim and the rescuer will be exhausted, and those people bringing in the rope really help.

&#8220Once a person falls into the water, it's hard to get them to do anything. The person in the hole in the ice is called the victim for a reason. They can't help themselves,” Kelahan said.

Within two to five minutes, that person's motor skills diminish, he said. The rate of onset of hypothermia depends on how warmly the person is dressed, in addition to the health and weight of the person.

&#8220If you come across someone who's fallen through the ice, immediately call for help. If you go out on the ice without training and background, equipment or knowledge, you become the next potential victim,” he said.

Outdoors enthusiasts can train to self-rescue from the ice, travel with people who know how to rescue one another and carry a cell phone to call for help, Kelahan said.

To try to save someone from the ice, a person can use a number of things on hand, such as a tree branch, tow rope, extension cord or even a jacket, he said. This is a low-risk tactic, he said.

People can purchase at sporting goods stores a fanny pack that contains a throw bag with a 75-foot rope. It's perfect to bring along on snowmachining or skating outings, Kelahan said.

If a person breaks through lake ice, he or she can keep warm by assuming a heat-escape-lessening posture known as HELP, which is to pull legs up toward chest and wrap the arms around legs, Kelahan said.

&#8220Holding onto the ice is a position that causes panic,” he said, adding that it also causes the victim to lose heat more rapidly.

Jessica Dryden and Brian Winnestaffer, both Sutton residents, joined the borough fire volunteers and water rescue team in January 2003.

During the summer, they perform swift-water rescue on the Matanuska River, which ranges from finding oars or paddles for stranded boaters to pulling people out of the water.

&#8220Some people won't wear life jackets. A lot of people are under the assumption that they can swim,” Dryden said.

&#8220The truth is, the water is darn cold. You'd be amazed how many people wear cotton when synthetics are much warmer,” Winnestaffer said. In the winter months, many of the water rescues involve snowmachiners who try to cross Lake Lucille or Lake Louise, he said.

Contact Dawn De Busk at 352-2252 or dawn.debusk@ frontiersman.com.