By Tom Vines
Photo iStock

A Jan. 23 ice rescue in Green Bay, Wis., demonstrated how the right preparation and equipment can overcome a significant challenge.

Calls to 911 reported that a person had fallen through the ice on the Fox River, which runs through the city of Green Bay.

At 1337 hrs, the Green Bay Fire Department dispatched Engine 1, Engine 2, Engine 3, Ladder 2, Ambulance 3 (ALS), Ambulance 2 (ALS), Water Rescue 2 (a 1-ton pickup carrying the Zodiac, a 25-hp motor, a basket litter with flotation, dry suits and dragging equipment), Battalion 1 and Battalion 3.

Because the city of Green Bay is split by the Fox River, and the location of water accidents are often incorrectly reported, the department’s water rescue standard operating procedure directs rescuers to first establish which side of the river the incident is on and then determine the best rescue launch point. The standard directs Engine 1 to stage at a central location until the specific location can be established, while Station 2 units go to the reported location and Station 3 units go to the west side of the river for recon.

In this case, the three 911 calls reported different incident locations. The first reported location was by a Holiday Inn, but responders arriving there could not see a victim. The second reported location was by an office building. Responders could see the individual from this location, but he was far away. The third reported location was behind a Georgia Pacific Paper Mill. From this location, firefighters could see the victim, with only his head and shoulders visible, located more than 300 feet out in the river. The paper mill turned out to be a good location for response as there’s an access road to the shore line. The first units arrived there at 1345 hrs.

Rescuers first planned to launch the Zodiac, but when they reached the shore line, they encountered a problem. At this point along the river there’s a wall of steel pilings ranging from 4 to 6 feet tall. This prevented an easy launch. In addition, ice conditions were not favorable for the boat. Near the river’s edge, the ice was approximately 6 to 8 inches thick, but between the shore and the victim, conditions varied from thick ice to open water where vessels passing through had broken up the ice.

Four firefighters, two from Engine 1 and two from Engine 2, all wearing dry suits and personal floatation devices (PFDs), climbed down over the wall to the ice as they trailed 600' tethers of half-inch rope controlled by shore personnel.

Other units arrived soon after. These crews placed a roof ladder down to the ice to help other personnel trying to reach the river and deploy equipment.

To spread out their weight on the ice, the rescuers on the ice split up. Two of the rescuers took a rightward path to him, while the other pair took a leftward path.

About 30 feet out, the rescuers hit thinner ice and broke though into the water. Then, after swimming a short distance, they again encountered thicker ice and used their ice rescue awls to pull themselves onto the surface. But then, when they were about 30 feet from the victim, they again broke though the ice. As they worked their way to the victim they yelled to the man to hang on because it looked as though he was about to give up.

At 1355 hrs, rescuers made direct contact with the 73-year-old victim. He was conscious and alert, not completely oriented, and complained of being cold. He was dressed in a long-sleeve T-shirt, a vest, pants and street shoes.

The first rescuer to reach the victim placed a floatation device around him. The rescuer then secured the patient with a bear-hug and lay back in the water to secure him until other rescuers got there. Other rescuers then attached another tether line around the man. Using hand signals, rescuers in the water directed the on-shore rescuers to begin pulling them to shore.

Once the group was pulled through the water to the edge of solid ice, they needed to exert additional effort to get the subject up onto the ice. To do this, one firefighter sat on the ice and pulled as other firefighters in the water pushed the victim up.

After crossing this short expanse of ice, they again encountered a short expanse of water. After swimming through the water, they encountered the ice and repeated the previous procedure of to get the victim back onto the surface of the ice.

They then only had to travel on the ice another 25 feet—still about 200 feet from shore—where they were met by two firefighters with a floatation-equipped basket litter, which was attached to a shore-based tether.

The group of rescuers then packaged the victim in the litter, which was then dragged to the shore line and the original entry point. There the litter with the victim was hauled up the roof ladder.

The victim was placed in an ambulance that left the scene at 1401 hrs. At 1408 hrs, he was admitted at Saint Vincent Hospital with a core temperature of 89 degrees F. After a couple of days of treatment and observation, he was released.

Units were back in service at 1436 hrs. A total of nine fire department vehicles responded with 21 personnel.

Note: A few days earlier, police had found the victim aimlessly wandering the streets of Green Bay. They took him to a local crisis center, which was located about a mile from the eventual rescue site. The crisis center eventually released him. No one knows how he got into the middle of the river.

Sources: Green Bay Fire Department Firefighter/EMT Drew Spielman provided information for this report.

LESSONS LEARNED/LESSONS REINFORCED:
Firefighter/EMT Drew Spielman notes the following: “On future operations, we may consider spreading rescue personnel over a wider area of the ice to better distribute the weight. This was not a major problem on this incident, but there was the potential of breaking though. We have also discussed having a rescuer taking the floating basket farther out in the river in case we need it immediately.

“We’ve also discussed having a rescuer with a radio half way to relay communications with the companies on shore. Because our victim was more than 300 feet out, it was hard for the shore members to see our hand signals. Yelling out commands just does not work in those conditions.

“Over the years, we have extensively preplanned the river and access points. We have pre-determined launch points for our Zodiac boat along the river, along with docking locations for quick access to a waiting ambulance after retrieving a victim. We also have a 28' boat that’s in the water from May 1 through October 31 for a quick response to fire and medical emergencies on the water. All the engine companies have dry suits, so we can have a total of six people ready to enter water when they arrive on scene.

“As for responding to these rescues, two members from each engine don their Ice Commander dry suits before leaving the station. That allows the ladder and water rescue to arrive on scene ready for deployment. In this recent case, the location of the victim changed several times, so most companies arrived at about the same time.

“We do water and ice rescue training at least twice a year, usually once in the spring when the ice breaks up and once in the winter when we have ice. Stations 1, 2, 3 are our water/ice rescue stations, but we incorporate the other four stations into our training in case they’re called to assist. The local marinas are more than willing to let us use their property for these purposes. I would safely say that our training completely prepared everyone involved in this rescue. I was very comfortable with the evolution and recalled several training tips while performing the rescue.

“This was the first ice/water rescue anyone could recall in recent memory where a victim was pulled out and survived.”

Rescue Editor Tom Vines is the co-author of “High Angle Rescue Techniques” and “Confined Space and Structural Rope Rescue.” He operates a rope-rescue consulting group in Red
Lodge, Mont.

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