LAURIE WEIR
Emergency responders in Smiths Falls sprang into action Jan. 10 to rescue a youth who fell through the ice on the Rideau River.
Police received a 9-1-1 call at 1:49 p.m. reporting that a young person had gone through the ice behind the Econo Lodge. Officers, firefighters and paramedics were dispatched to the scene.
The youth was located in the water across from the hotel. Members of the Smiths Falls Fire Department’s water rescue team entered the icy river and successfully pulled the youth to safety.
A video posted on the Smiths Falls Police Service’s Facebook page shows two rescuers on the ice hauling the youth out by their backpack while two others worked ropes from the shore. The youth was then pulled across the ice and lifted up the river’s retaining wall, where paramedics assessed them.
The Lanark County Paramedic Service transported the youth to hospital for treatment of hypothermia.
“No ice is safe ice,” Smiths Falls police said in a statement. “Ice can be greatly affected by weather changes, water depth and currents. Ice does not form at uniform thickness on any body of water. No one should venture onto the ice in unstable conditions.”
