Approximately 20 members of the Paul Smiths-Gabriels and Bloomingdale volunteer fire departments, along with state Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Ranger Joseph Ordway, participated in an ice rescue course on Saturday.

The skills refresher course covered how to use a rope system for rescuing people who have fallen through the ice, as well as practicing the extensive amount of communication and coordination between various responders and their positions during a rescue scene, according to Paul Smiths-Gabriels VFD Chief Tom Tucker.

He noted that much of the training focused on the role that responders on shore play in keeping track of everyone on the ice or in the water, as well as providing muscle for the rope system. Tucker said participants practiced communicating with victims, who, in Saturday’s training, were of course staged — and covered various methods to get them back to shore or on stable ice.

“It went fantastically,” Tucker said. “It was great ice, perfect for what we were doing.”

Ice rescue training takes place on Franklin Falls Pond near Bloomingdale on Saturday. (Provided photo — Angelo Galle — Paul Smiths-Gabriels Volunteer Fire Department)

He added that Paul Smiths-Gabriels and Bloomingdale have been teaming up for quite a few years to train together. He said optimal training conditions are hard to come by, and the departments seize on the opportunity when it arises.

“It’s very dependent on the conditions,” he said. “It’s hard to find the perfect ice that’s thin. (We) wait for the ice out to get a nice shelf. We were able to get one (Saturday) where we actually had a floating iceberg so we could practice for that.”

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The process at practice

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Braeden Lummel has been a member of the Paul Smiths-Gabriels VFD for almost four years. Six months ago, he joined the Franklin County Technical Rescue Team — a specialized unit of firefighters and EMTs throughout the county who are called upon for incidents requiring the use of rope systems. These can include swift water, flooding and ice rescues.

On Saturday, he was in the water. While there is no such thing as a “typical” ice rescue, Lummel detailed the general process that first responders follow during an incident, when time is of the essence.

He said the first person(s) on scene note how many victims are in trouble, what resources are needed and if any site dangers, such as dams or moving water hazards, exist that will require impact the considerations in approaches that rescuers take.

Upon arrival, rescuers will don specialized suits for rescue, which Lummel said are made to be buoyant. Often, he said the suits themselves serve as a personal flotation device, so rescuers do not have to put on a separate PFD.

Then, rescuers will get their rope systems set up and ensure that the crew on the shore is ready to man the ropes. Once that’s in place, it’s time for the rescuers to head on to the ice, equipped with their rescue buoy. Lummel said rescuers extensively train on recovery techniques to get back on to the ice if they happen to fall through as they are heading out to the victim.

“From the water to the shore, it’s all about communication,” he said. “We aren’t necessarily going to have radios on us, but it’s a big thing of line of sight. We’re not (typically) going super super far out.”

Lummel said once they get to the victim, they try to be as communicative as possible as they fit the rescue ring around the victim.

“Chances are, when we get there and they’re still in the water, the victims are starting to lose dexterity and all sorts of feeling,” he said. “They’re not going to be able to move as well as they could, so we’re lifting up their arms and sliding that buoy right underneath their armpits.”

Once secured, the rescuer near the victim gives the signal to the team on shore to begin pulling to get them back on to stable ice and then back to shore. Lummel said the conditions on Franklin Falls Pond on Saturday gave rescuers the chance to practice a variety of scenarios.

“(Saturday) was pretty darn close to textbook ice for training purposes,” he said. “We had quite a bit of open water. We had quite a bit of moving water. We had thin ice in some spots that you couldn’t even walk on without falling through and other spots where it was multiple layers of different types of ice.”

Lummel emphasized that having variety is very important.

“There is no typical ice rescue,” he said. “(Saturday) just gave us a much better idea of what to expect for all of those different types of conditions.”

Lummel said the training was a success, which was only possible through everyone on the scene functioning as a cohesive team.

“It was a great training overall,” he said. “A job well done by both the rescue technicians and the members manning the shore.”

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A dangerous time

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While the conditions presented a prime training opportunity for rescuers, Lummel emphasized that it is an especially dangerous time of the year for recreators to be venturing on to the ice. Recent thaws and freezes have led to ice that is altogether too thin to support people’s weights, or highly variable such that while one area may appear to be safe, ice thickness and quality could suddenly thin — and fail — as one walks out.

For more information on ice safety from the state DEC, visit tinyurl.com/46kpjuxf.