The Woodbury Public Safety Department is reminding people to be wary of thin ice on lakes and ponds after two emergency lake rescues Monday.
At 11:15 a.m., an adult male was rescued from Wilmes Lake after he fell through the ice, the department said in a statement.
The second rescue came after a 911 call was received at 4:29 p.m. Two people had gone through the ice on Markgrafs Lake. Emergency responders, including divers, responded. They learned some residents had tried to rescue one victim but were foiled by the thin ice.
Emergency personnel rescued a 12-year-old girl first because she was above the water. The girl was transported to Regions Hospital and reportedly in stable condition. A 16-year-old boy could not be immediately rescued. Divers later rescued him after he was in the lake for about 90 minutes. He also was rushed by ambulance to Regions Hospital reportedly in critical condition. The St. Paul Pioneer Press reported the boy attends Stillwater Area High School.
Woodbury was assisted by the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, Cottage Grove Public Safety, Oakdale Police and Fire, Hudson Fire, Stillwater Fire, and joint dive teams.
The county dive team that responded to Markgraf’s Lake is a specialty rescue team of about 30 local volunteers from the Lower St. Croix Valley, Stillwater, Oakdale, Mahtomedi, Scandia, and Hudson Fire Departments.
Judy Seeberger, a state senator, is a paramedic and county dive team member for the Lower St. Croix Fire Department. “While fire departments have the ability to respond to cold water rescues, dive team members participate in extensive training to prepare for when underwater rescues are required,” she said. “Team members are on-call volunteers and whoever is available when calls go out will respond by heading to their local fire department to pick up equipment before heading for the scene.”
While the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources does not measure ice thickness on Minnesota Lakes, its guidelines advise that if ice is under four inches thick people should stay off that pond or lake. Ice is seldom the same thickness over a lake or pond. It can be two-feet thick in one place and one-inch thick a few yards away.
