It has been a busy beginning of the winter for ice rescue crews. The Oshkosh Fire Department says they have to keep their skills sharp to keep people safe.
John Holland, the public information officer for the Oshkosh Fire Department said, “The training is extremely important just because it is a low volume number of calls but the risk is so great. We go on about five ice rescues a year and we don’t get out a lot so we want to make sure that when we have to we know what we’re doing.”
The department said thin ice can be difficult to manage in the boat so it makes sure to give each of their officers plenty of opportunities to train before a real call comes in. Tim Heiman, the Division Chief of Training for the Oshkosh Fire Department said, “We’re specifically training on transitioning from open water or thin ice back to good ice.”