Every winter, the Auburn Fire Department shares the same message.
"The ice, in our opinion, is never safe," Deputy Chief Glenn Johnson said.
Auburn firefighters respond to about 20 ice-related calls each season. The department said each call has one thing in common: someone went out on ice they thought was safe.
"I think they get excited to see the ice," Johnson said. "They want to go out ice fishing and that's mainly most of our calls."
Every year the department practices and prepares for ice rescues.
"Every body of water is slightly different," Johnson said. "The ice may look safe from the top, but you could walk to a different section and just fall right through."
Spectrum News 1 wanted to see what goes into an ice rescue. So in full protective gear and supervision, we went out on Auburn Pond. It took only about a minute before this reporter fell in the water.