Kimberley Search and Rescue is urging caution after responding to multiple extremely serious incidents over the weekend involving people and a dog falling through thin ice on area lakes, with one fatality confirmed by Kimberley RCMP.

On Friday, Mar. 25 KimSAR was called to Moyie Lake, after two people attempted to rescue a dog who had run out onto the ice and fell in themselves.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 know the outcome of two of the subjects at this point in the time, we had three subjects and a dog fall through, all were critical and the dog died,鈥� a KimSAR manager told the Bulletin Monday morning. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why we鈥檙e telling everybody, this is really really really serious. People are going out onto ice that is extremely deceiving, very deceptive.鈥�

鈥淭he people who tried to rescue the animal used water craft, so they were trying to do the right thing, and unfortunately, if you get stuck on the ice, you most likely can鈥檛 get back. I can鈥檛 say much more than that,鈥� SAR added. 鈥淪uffice it to say, if someone goes through, an animal goes through dial 911, don鈥檛 go out. Don鈥檛 go out.鈥�

SAR said that the dog died and the two people who attempted to rescue it were in critical condition at the time SAR arrived. The Bulletin has contacted the Cranbrook RCMP detachment for additional information.

SAR was also deployed to an incident on Sunday, Mar. 27.

Sgt. Steve Woodcox confirmed to the Bulletin that on Sunday, Mar. 27, two males on a quad were heading in towards the shore at Moyie Lake and at about 50 feet from shore the quad broke through the ice and both men went into the water.

鈥淥ne of the men a 59-year-old was pulled from the water, I believe with the help of maybe Canal Flats Fire Department and our Kimberley RCMP and that male is deceased.鈥�

The Bulletin will follow this story as more information becomes known, but the messaging from SAR at this point is critical.

鈥淚f someone else goes in, don鈥檛 go in, you might not make it out either, they went in for a reason,鈥� the SAR manager said. 鈥淚f somebody goes through the ice, dial 911 right away and be very specific and the other thing is to know your phone so you can give coordinates.鈥�

SAR added that they rarely know the outcomes of these incidents after they hand the situation off to other first responders such as BC Ambulance.

鈥淚 can say that all three of the subjects were highly, highly affected by the cold water and they couldn鈥檛 get out by themselves and the dog didn鈥檛 make it.鈥�

The SAR team who is 鈥渄evastated鈥� following this past weekend鈥檚 incidents.

鈥淲e choose to volunteer our time to do this but we鈥檙e always sad when this happens too,鈥� SAR said, adding a critical incident stress team will come in and work with them.

There was yet another incident on Saturday, Mar. 26 when an off duty KimSAR member saved an individual who had gone through the ice at Horseshoe Lake. The member used a ratchet strap to safely rescue the trapped individual.

SAR recommends using www.adventuresmart.ca before going out into the backcountry for information about ice thickness and to plan trips ahead of time.

Kimberley SAR quoted the Lifesaving Society鈥檚 safety tips, saying 鈥淪pring ice is rotten ice鈥� and included the following information:

3鈥� (7cm) or less - STAY OFF!

4鈥� (10cm) - ice fishing, walking, cross country skiing

5-7鈥� (13-18cm) - one snowmobile or ATV

8鈥�-12鈥� (20-30cm) - one car, group of people

12鈥�-15鈥� (30-38cm) - one medium truck (pickup or van)

Kimberley SAR recommends staying off lakes and streams at this time as ice conditions continue to deteriorate.

paul.rodgers@kimberleybulletin
Like us on and follow us on Twitter