Firefighters train for ice and cold water rescues in Cedar Rapids

CEDAR RAPIDS - Two incidents this past week in Johnson County show the dangers that icy waters pose.

Last Thursday, authorities pulled out a partially submerged hunter from the ice he had fallen through at the Hawkeye Wildlife Management Area near the Iowa River. Sunday, a Solon High School student died when the canoe he was in capsized on Coralville Lake.

While not related to those two incidents, the Cedar Rapids Fire Department is training this week and next for conducting ice and cold water rescues.

Battalion Chief Andy Olesen, who is coordinating the training, said the training is vital for firefighters.

'There is no one else that can do this skill,” Olesen said. 'We have to be ready and we have to be proficient. We have to give our citizens the best opportunity to help them out when something bad happens.”

Olesen said the training will be split in two parts.

The first deals with basic skills involved in an ice rescue, including donning the cold water suit and rescuing a victim - or the rescuer himself if the situation requires it.

Next week, crews will focus on more technical and difficult open-water rescues. Each firefighter will wear the cold water suit and also play the victim, Olesen said.

'The skills we're practicing are skills we expect all of our people to be able to perform at really short notice any time,” he said.

Each fire department apparatus is equipped with a cold water suit, and the fire department trains annually on their use, Olesen said.

Public safety spokesman Greg Buelow said there were eight water and ice-related rescues in 2015, one swimming area or recreational water area rescue, two swift water rescues and two water craft rescues. In 2014, there were eight water and ice-related rescues, 11 swift water rescues and three water craft rescues. Buelow attributed the large number of swift water rescues to a period of flash flooding in 2014.

Buelow said people need to be careful when they step out on the ice for fishing or any other activity.

'There is no such thing as 100 percent safe ice,” he said. 'You can't judge the strength of ice just by its appearance, age, thickness, temperature or whether or not the ice is covered with snow.”