On Saturday and Sunday, February 23-24, 2008 members of the Scales Mound Fire Protection District, the Elizabeth Fire Department, EMTs from both the Galena and Elizabeth Ambulance Services and Apple River Firefighters participated in a Cold Water Rescue Drill. This drill was held at Apple Canyon Lake on Saturday and Lake Galena on Sunday. A major concern involves ice fishermen who push the season into warmer winter/spring days.
2008 Cold Water Rescue Drill
For example, during late March of 2007, three fishermen broke through the ice in the Galena Territory near the North Cove. The extrication of these victims was particularly difficult and exhausting since the ice was thin and rescuers had to break their way out to the victims.
Since the most difficult rescues are on a combination of thin ice and open water, the Scales Mound Fire Protection District purchased a yellow, inflatable rescue boat shown in the photo. This rescue boat can be easily brought to the scene and inflated in just one minute with a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) air bottle. Now the dangerous thin ice-open water combination is less of an obstacle to the rescue team.
