By Rita Savard
Lowell Sun (Massachusetts)
CHELMSFORD, Mass. — In the icy waters of Freeman Lake, a man struggles to pull himself out of a hole.
“Are you doing OK?” asks firefighter John Kivlan, as he slides along the ice on his stomach toward the victim.
“My legs feel numb,” says the man, clinging to an ice shelf. “I’m so tired.”
Plunging into the hole, Kivlan secures a floatation device around the man and hoists him up on a sled. Minutes later, the two men are pulled back to shore.
This time it’s only a drill. The drowning victim, Chelmsford firefighter Josh Abbott, is dressed in a protective thermal suit to prevent hypothermia.
For Chelmsford firefighters, drills like these help shave valuable minutes off response times; minutes that can mean the difference between life and death.
Nearly every year, their ice-rescue techniques go beyond drills. Warm spells in winter and spring create weak spots in ice, and an unsuspecting person or pet lands in frigid water.
Hypothermia, a condition in which the body’s temperature drops too low to maintain normal bodily functions, eventually leads to organ failure and death.
In Chelmsford, ice-rescue calls average about three a year. Most often, the emergency call is for a family pet that has gone under. Firefighters say there is always debate about whether valuable time and resources are wasted on animal rescues.
They say no.
“Almost always, when you have a situation like that, there’s a bystander or pet owner ready to jump in after the animal,” Kivlan says. “Then you have a human victim in the water, too. We try to avoid that at all costs.”
Kivlan remembers pulling a black Labrador retriever from the Merrimack River. A crowd of about 40 people watched the dog struggle in the water while firefighters were preparing for rescue. A man panicking on the riverbank had to be restrained.
“He was ready to go in after the dog,” Kivlan says. “People don’t realize how fast freezing-cold water renders you totally helpless. We wear these suits for a reason.”
Cold shock. It happens the second a person falls through ice. Gasping and hyperventilating can last up to four minutes. Then the body grows numb as blood pumps closer to the heart. In water that cold, a person can lose consciousness in under 15 minutes.
Kivlan says the most important thing to remember when falling in frozen water is keeping one’s breathing under control. If a person can’t pull himself out of the water within the first five to 10 minutes, it’s best to try and keep one’s arms out on the ice until help arrives. It will actually help if wet arms stick to the ice, preventing you from slipping under water if you lose consciousness.
From viewing a training video, firefighters learned of one man who was rescued after his beard froze to the ice, keeping his head from falling into the water.
“The more you move around, the cooler you get, and the faster hypothermia sets in,” Kivlan says. “The body loses heat three times faster in cold water than in the air. If you can’t get out, try to stay still.”
Ice fishing, skating, snowmobiling and snowshoeing are staples for fending off winter doldrums. But after a warm spell, firefighters stress watching for weak spots where dark puddles might have formed on ice. Children, adds Kivlan, shouldn’t go near the ice without adult supervision.
If in doubt, call the Fire Department. It conducts regular checks on the ice at local ponds, lakes and rivers.
Firefighters hope they won’t need to put their training techniques to use this winter. But if they do, they’re ready.
“Training is important because you absolutely have to keep skills fresh,” Kivlan says. “When you have a victim in the water, that’s not the time to be learning.”
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