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Joined: Dec 2002
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Two days ago on Jan 25, 2013 my son and his friend were crossing Bangs lake in Waucanda illinois at 10:30 pm on two ATVs when in the middle, a half mile from shore, the ice below them gave way. My son Jon, was totally engulfed in the icy water using only the floating tires of the ATV to keep from going under. His friend Tom, about 30 feet away, found himself on a shelf of ice which broke free and dropped about 3 feet into the water. He was able to escape to solid surface with his cell phone still working. His call to 911 brought the local fire rescue team. Within 12 minutes of being in the water, unable to climb out, a rescue fireman was in at this side getting a rope around his arms and he was pulled out. The rescue team pulled my son back to the ambulance over the 1/2 mile of ice.
I just returned from the firehouse. Jon and Tom, Jon's wife Amber and my wife Carol and I brought donuts and pizza to the firehouse and we spent a half hour with the whole firehouse team recounting the ordeal.
These fireman saved my sons life that night. I know we have fireman here, and I know you know a fire and rescue professional, so please accept and pass along my thankyou to them. These guys do save lives.
Dan
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Joined: Oct 2008
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WOW, Dan.. its great to hear that this worked out well for your son and his friend! You and your wife must be beside yourselves with relief!
It could have been the phone call that changed everything
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Stuff like that makes all the training and ice rescue exercises hit home. We had to disband our dive team, although we had the gear and were exempt from labour laws in emergencies, we had to abide by labour laws in training, and the certifications became too much. We sold that gear and got into ice rescue, for we never saved a life diving, but we did pull 2 or 3 every year out of our river and one large lake. You need 4 " of 'good' ice to bear the weight of a horse, 6 inches for a team. I remember that from the logging days before firefighting. Pizza was the bane of the firehall. Everyone thought we should have some. At times the companies would make extra and stop buy with 3 or 4. There were only 4 of us at most stations. We'd have to call in other trucks to come and get one! I did learn that if I ordered one for me for supper to get double anchovies on it. I like them. No one else would touch it then!!!! I never go onto the ice without dragging a substantial 20 foot pole, even on a snow machine. Gets you out of trouble quick. At work we used to snowshoe 12 feet apart with a rope between us, and they made fun of my pole. The downside to running those exercises is...it's freaking cold! The upside was it was good team building. We used to deck out a reporter every winter in the cold water survival suit and throw them in. See how strong you can be after 10 minutes in that water, it saps you so fast you can almost not lift your arm. It must have been a scary scenario. Imagine if the phone didn't work? Imagine if you were in N. Canada, 30 to 100 miles from the nearest rescue team? We'd call in the Air Force rescue then, 20 minutes arrival time for a big chopper and 8 man crew. Sometimes Michigan showed up to help. Some of the other rules, 1. be prepared, even if you went in, to have the stuff to make a fire FAST. 2. have survival blankets. 3. People know where you went, when you were coming back. As to the first, all my kids had the exercises every year, maybe twice. In the pouring rain, or snow, get out the waterproof container, and make a fire in under 5 minutes. Sounds easy. It is if you've done it many times. We'd be walking, I'd yell fire, and they had to make one big one. And get 2 more ready, for 3 fires in a triangle that can be seen from 20,000 feet is a distress signal. And it works if there are flights going anywhere near. Pilots can be counted on to see those and respond. A guy on our crew cut his leg very badly with a chain saw, 50 miles from the nearest road. We were a 1/2 mile from a lake, got the signal going, cut a landing spot and had him in the hospital 100 miles away in under an hour. I got fired, my boss told me he was just an indian, we could have carried him and got a float plane. I drilled him one good one in the chops, right over his desk. And fired myself. Those 2 Cree brothers were good friends. And they could walk out, 60 miles, leave 2 days early, and be sitting in the hotel drinking beer when we got back. How did they cross 3 major rivers, no roads, and get there without a compass I've no dang idea, other than that is how they were raised. Great guys. Here's a good one, just to hijack the thread and I can still type 120 wpm, Fred was very quiet. Never talked much. Our crew was putting in roads 5 years a head of cutting, Me, 2 students from forestry school, and the 2 Cree Indians, and one labourer. Every morning the students would as Fred what kind of weather we could get. He'd grunt, "Rain afternoon today, cooler a lot", or some such thing. That would be it. One day they ask him, the great native guide, could conjure up the weather, so amazing.. "Hey Fred, what's the weather like today...?" He reaches in his tent, pulls out a little transistor radio with an earpiece, shrugs and says, "who knows, my batteries died." I laughed my butt off. Deadpan too. 
John Conley
Musica est vita
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BTW, I did almost die one year falling through a beaver pond trying to retrieve the duck I shot.
ALONE.
Up to my chest in water.
Can't move.
I got back to my truck, on all 4's so tired from the cold. Just getting the door opened took forever.
I ended up in the hospital with water in my lungs, pneumonia, and some flu like thing. 6 weeks in the hospital. That was sick. I quit hunting alone. More or less. I was the fire marshal and had the run of 600 miles of private road. So my gun was behind the seat of the truck all the time. Or guns. No more gun racks. No more CIL warblers to get fish in beaver ponds. (that's dynamite) I used to blast the beaver dams that messed up the roads. The the RCMP found out I had sticks and caps in the same truck. Oh Oh.
BTW, thanks for the thumbs up. I used to say we had 90% boredom and 10% when all H broke loose.
I keep saying I'll write a book. Our fire department was 600 strong, all brothers, and at the end, sisters too. Every day with me was an episode of MASH combined with an hour of serious training and planning.
At times it was hard to get through to the new ones. Stick with someone who's been there and done that, and learn.
I still have goosebumps thinking about your son in the water. It does not get scarier than that you know.
Nature is nice to look at, but needs a whole lot of respect.
John Conley
Musica est vita
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