Icy Water Rescue Prompts Warnings from Fire Fighters

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Omaha, NE (KPTM)- The warmer weather is a welcome site for most of us, but it can also make things pretty dangerous on the water this time of year. That danger was realized Tuesday when four people fell through the ice of a West Omaha pond.

Around 5 o'clock Tuesday evening Garret Hile looked out the window to see two young boys fall into a pond near 183rd and Harrison. After his mother called 911 he rushed out to help, only to see the situation get worse.

"A mother ran out there and fell through, and her daughter went out there to get her mom and she fell through too, so by then there were is four people in the ice," says Garret Hile.

Several neighbors also noticed what was happening and raced to the pond, one carrying a ladder and a hose. After some tense moments they were able to get the two boys out of the water, and then the mother and daughter. Rescuers say the four were extremely fortunate.

"And the quick thinking of a neighbor, brining the ladder out, a hose out, you know, did some of the right things to do to make a rescue like that, did a fantastic job, in fact he distributed his weight across the ice and got the ladder out there, had a device to pull em in, the hose, a fantastic job," say Captain Brad Hildebrandt of the Omaha Fire Department.

Water rescues are something Omaha fire fighters train for every year and just last year they made 3 icy water rescues. With the ice thinning over local lakes and streams, they say it's best to stay off the ice.

"If there is a victim out on the ice, the best thing to do is call 911, don't try to go out on the ice yourself because then you're a victim," says Captain James Gentile of the Omaha Fire Department.

It's advice that sometimes isn't so easy to follow in the heat of the moment. In this case everyone that made it into the icy water also made it out safely. The four victims that fell into the lake were taken to Lakeside Hospital. Each showed signs of hypothermia, but were treated and released Tuesday evening.