# USCG how to survive falling through the ice



## Red Flag 1 (Jan 25, 2017)

I was stationed at Plattsburgh AFB, NY, on the opposite shore of Lake Champlain from Burlington Vt. There were several calls every year for ice mishaps on the lake. People would decide to go ice fishing a little early; snowmobiles falling through the ice, late in the season a few would have MI's while rushing to get their ice houses off the ice. On year we had a tri-axel dump truck go through the ice.

Here is some advice from the USCG on what to do to survive a fall through the ice: Multimedia Feature Release: Coast Guard ice rescue operations in the Northeast.


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## Blizzard (Jan 25, 2017)

Fall through ice?  Pfft.   We jump through that shit for fun in January wearing only our swimsuits.

Polar Plunge  Presented by Law Enforcement for Special Olympics Minnesota

Survive?  We say Thrive!


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## amlove21 (Jan 31, 2017)

We did a couple of these in Norway as part of the Allied Officers Winter Warfare Course- it was a weird feeling being in negative 30 degree weather, breaking through ice and getting over the initial shock and realizing the water was 30 degrees warmer than the air. 

'Ah it's warm! Wait.... ohcrapohcrapohcrap get out.'


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## Gunz (Jan 31, 2017)

Coldest I've been was up in Banner Elk NC, (of all places!). It was 30-below during a freak cold front, -5 in Raleigh, -10 in Charlotte. We had a garbage can lid with charcoal briquettes underneath the jeep motor trying to unfreeze everything. 

Thanks for the Coastie tips, @Red Flag 1 ... If my pond ever freezes here in FL, I'll know what to do.


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## RackMaster (Jan 31, 2017)

Been through the ice a few times, both unintentional and intentional.  Good times.  lol


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## Blizzard (Jan 31, 2017)

^  You know it's cold when your big boy parts go from being outies to innies; that's not as much as fun.


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## RackMaster (Jan 31, 2017)

Blizzard said:


> ^  When your boy parts go from being outies to innies, then you know it's cold and that's not as much as fun.



Just as fun are mandatory sub-zero naked snow baths.  Definitely an innie kind of event.


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## Red Flag 1 (Jan 31, 2017)

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## Gunz (Jan 31, 2017)

"Like" for the courageous effort._ If _they had called you guys first the boys probably would've stood a chance. But they wasted precious time. Not your fault or the fault of your colleagues. You folks did everything possible.


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## RackMaster (Jan 31, 2017)

Red Flag 1 said:


> While in Germany, there were several cases each winter of people falling through the ice, some for only minutes; all died. The first responders in every case were the Germans. Little or nothing was done in terms of life-saving efforts despite a growing body of evidence that cold water drownings can be saved. At the time cases of people surviving, even after extended periods of time in the water. Every Friday we had Grand rounds for the guys pulling duty over the weekend, we did this so that we had in depth knowledge of every in-patient in the facility. The subject of survival with cold water drowning came up all through the winter months.
> 
> We had two 5-year-old boys who went through the ice at a pond in one of the satellite off-base housing units. The Germans responded and did nothing but simply pronounce them dead. The hospital's administrator got me out of the dentist's chair to roll out and get the boys. The Pediatrician got the ER ready to take the boys, and the base surgeon and I went for the kids. The boys had been in the water about 20 minutes. We literally took them from the Germans and began cold water rescue back to the base. We went all out with two full teams, We brought infant warmers and even used warmed humidified oxygen with our anesthesia machines. We worked for a couple of hours with some positive responses early on, but in the end, we lost both of the boys. It was one of the saddest days I have been through to lose the two boys; I thought we had a shot at good outcomes. The morale at the facility went to rock bottom and stayed there for a good week. I believe that if they had called us first, we could have pulled it off. We lost a good 15 minutes with the boys out of the water with nothing going on; frustrating.



When I was new Private, a bunch of us were about to leave the front gate for the weekend; it was locked down with an order for everyone to return to their units.  Late winter/early spring. A young girl went missing from her yard at the edge of the base, near a ravine and river.  We were deployed in the ravine searching in the snow.  I was the Tp Cmd's Signaller and carried the radio.  Heard on the radio the divers found her under the ice.  Got called to move a vehicle so the Ambo could turn around and was there when she was pulled out.  Absolutely heartbreaking knowing the whole Bde was out looking but nothing we could do.


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## Red Flag 1 (Jan 31, 2017)

T


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## AWP (Jan 31, 2017)

Move to FL. Problem solved, problem staying solved.


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