Four people were in need of rescue before the start of the weekend in the South Cariboo.
Just after 5 o’clock Friday (April 4) afternoon, Interlakes Volunteer Fire Department Chief Poul Beer said they along with RCMP, 100 Mile Fire Rescue, BC Emergency Health Service, and South Cariboo Search and Rescue responded to the incident on Bridge Lake.
“We had four people who had gone out on the lake on their ATV’s and had fallen through the ice and were stuck out on the ice and in the water several hundred metres off shore. One person was transported to hospital.”
Beer said they encourage the public to not venture out onto the ice at this time of year.
“It’s extremely unpredictable and can be obviously very dangerous. You’re quite literally taking your life into your own hands by venturing out onto the ice.”
Beer noted that there is a common misconception out there that when people go out on the ice that the Fire Department can come and rescue them.
“We are not equipped or trained to do ice rescue. When we respond to scenes like this where there are people out in the middle of the lake we are quite limited as to what we can do. We’re doing a lot things like scene safety and management and trying to prepare for the experts, in this case, that would be Search and Rescue to come out. People need to know that there isn’t someone at the ready for them when they go out and take these kind of risks.”
–Files by Pat Matthews, My Cariboo Now
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