The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Firefighters take to the ice for rescue exercise
Saline firefighters braved frigid waters for special training
By Sue G. Collins, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: February 28, 2008
The ice is about ten inches thick near the middle of the south end of Mill Pond.
Advertisement
Saline Fire Chief Craig Hoeft knows this because on Sunday, he cut a hole through the frozen surface of the icy water with a chain saw.
Hoeft wasn't ice fishing, though later in the afternoon lines were flying across the ice and men and women wearing weather-proof gear stood around the hole and lined the bank watching and waiting.
Firefighters from the Saline Area Fire Department hosted an all-day ice training course that began at 8 a.m. Sunday with classroom work and ended later that afternoon as each firefighter took a turn diving into the icy water to be rescued.
Fire fighters from Ann Arbor Township, Milan and Pittsfield Township joined the training and practiced each step of an emergency ice rescue, including tossing a line some 40 feet to hit the hole in the ice where a victim could be drowning.
They each donned a tethered cold water wet suit to take a turn as a victim then changed into an insulated, buoyant all-in-one suit they would wear during a rescue procedure.
Saline fire fighter Brandon Sears climbed out of the icy water after nearly an hour and a half of playing victim during the hands-on practice period. "I'm dry, but getting chilled. We're glad to have this kind of experience," he said.
Saline is fortunate to have four rescue suits, valued at around $500 each. "The Friends raised money for these suits and while we hope never to have to use them outside a practice session, we're very well prepared with equipment and with this comprehensive training," said Hoeft.
The fire chief cautioned that the ice is unreliable and dangerous and warned people to stay off of it.
Not all stories are guaranteed to appear
online. The Web edition contains a reasonable
sampling of the print edition stories.
For the most complete news coverage, we invite you to
subscribe
to the print edition of the paper.
Expanded
Web
Coverage
Staff Blog, "Inside The Newsroom"
TOP JOBS
