3 people, 1 dog fall through thin ice on Vancouver Island lakes
Fire and rescue officials warn residents to stay off the ice
Lily Kennedy was walking her four dogs at Beaver Lake in Saanich, near Victoria, early Sunday morning when she heard a woman screaming.
When Kennedy looked over at the lake, she saw a large dog had fallen through the ice about 20 metres from the shore. The dog was paddling its front paws but couldn't get out.
Then, she saw the dog's owner on her belly on the ice, inching towards it.
"We were like, 'Oh my God, don't go out there. That is so ridiculous.' And she's like, 'I'm not going to watch my dog die,'" Kennedy told CBC News.
"I was scream-crying while it was happening because it was like, I'm about to watch a dog and a person die."
Kennedy says the woman fell through the ice as she approached her dog. Then, the woman's brother, who was standing at the shore, decided to go in after her.
He fell in as well.
With help from Kennedy's husband, who threw rocks on the lake to break up the ice, both people and the dog were able to make it out safely. By the time paramedics arrived, they were on shore.
'Stay off the ice at all times'
Craig Ford, assistant deputy chief of the Saanich Fire Department, says the pair were nearly hypothermic when crews arrived.
Ford says it's rare for his team to get called out for people falling through the ice — normally the weather doesn't get cold enough on the south island for lakes and ponds to freeze.
The temperature was below freezing in Victoria that day, and had been for a few days. Still, Ford says, that's not enough for lakes to freeze enough to warrant people or pets going out on them.
"We encourage people to stay off the ice at all times," he told CBC News. "We don't get cold long enough to make sort of safe ice that you would see in more of the northern climate."
'We've got a mild climate'
Up the island, in the Comox Valley, a similar incident took place when a teenage boy fell through the ice at Maple Lake in Cumberland Sunday afternoon.
Stephane Dionne, deputy fire chief with the Cumberland Fire Department, says the boy was near the mouth of the lake where the water flow keeps the ice from getting very thick.
"He was lucky that he fell just where he was ... about five feet deep and his feet were touching the ground," Dionne said. "That means he was able to get out of there."
Dionne says he often sees people skating at Maple Lake, but he doesn't recommend it.
The only way to truly tell if the ice on a lake is thick enough to skate on is by drilling a hole to see how thick it is, he says. Instead, most people just throw a heavy rock on the ice and if it doesn't go through they figure it's safe.
"Don't forget Vancouver Island, where we live in Comox Valley, we've got a mild climate," he said.
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