Fire and Ice: Volunteer Firefighters Prepare for Icy Emergencies

Rockland County's volunteer firefighters have to be prepared for just about every type of emergency conceivable, including icy winter rescues.

With that in mind, members of the Hillcrest Fire Department took to a frozen pond in Pomona to practice their ice rescue skills. The drill helped them be ready in case someone falls through a weak spot on a frozen body of water.

As firefighters are anxious to get to a victim who may only have minutes left to live, they must use extreme caution in making certain that they too do not become victims of the ice.

Firefighters use special protective suits and ropes for such rescue efforts.

In the Morris County, NJ, community of Mount Olive, a frozen lake claimed the lives of two teenagers nearly two weeks ago. The teens set out to go ice fishing on Budd Lake and fell through on a section where the ice had thinned.

Rescuers desperately tried to reach the teens, but could not. Efforts to recover both bodies took several days. Unsafe ice conditions also led to the cancellation of an event on nearby Lake Hopatcong, where the Knee Deep Club was to have its ice fishing contest today.