The Three Lakes Pond behind our office is shining and beautiful, but extremely dangerous
01/02/2018 – Neighborhood ponds in our area are frozen from the cold.
They look like a fun attraction to many, but are more dangerous during the winter months than many people think. Emergency workers ask for kids of all ages to stay off the ice this winter.
There is a large neighborhood pond behind the Owassoisms office. We see people run off of the ice each year when temperatures reach a point where it begins to freeze.
Owasso Assistant Police Chief Jason Woodruff tells us Owasso Police have received at least one call related to children on this ice this weekend, in the Lake Valley Neighborhood.
We also asked Owasso Fire Chief David Hurst his thoughts on frozen pond dangers:
“While it might be tempting to get out on a frozen pond, creeks, rivers, or lakes, the temperatures in Oklahoma are never cold enough to completely freeze recreational waters. The Owasso Firefighters view ponds as a tempting hazard. These types of calls are just scary. It only takes a few minutes of exposure in frigid waters for hypothermia, frostbite, drowning and cardiac arrest to take place. Water rescues put everyone at risk, including the rescuers. If you want to play on the ice, go to the ice rink where it is safe and more enjoyable.”
It looks fun, but there really are risks, and it’s not worth it. It does not take long to break through the ice and drown or freeze to death. The water can be thick where you may have checked it, but thin in areas where you didn’t .
As far as winter hazard deaths go, falling through ice is ranked the five on a winter cause of death scale. The danger of falling through thin ice is closely tied to hypothermia. It’s common for still bodies of water to develop a layer of ice during bouts of bitterly cold temperatures, but that ice is often much weaker than it looks. It takes at least four inches of solid ice to be able to walk across it without falling through. The ice should be at least five inches thick to drive an ATV across, and it needs to be about a foot thick in order to safely drive across it in a personal vehicle like a car or truck.
Emergency responders say the frozen surfaces are an attraction to many people, but especially children. In our area, we don’t get a lot of really cold temperatures to receive a significant amount of ice, so it becomes more of a novelty, especially for children, because they don’t see a lot of it. It then becomes an attraction, and that attraction comes with a lot of danger.
Without having the proper tools, the thickness of ice can be deceiving. It takes multiple days of freezing-cold temperatures for the ice over ponds, lakes and other bodies of water to become strong enough to walk on. Even then, the thickness of the ice can vary throughout different areas.
When someone falls through the ice, the body reacts strongly and quickly to the extreme cold. The outer extremities begin to shut down. Your hands, your fingers, your ability to talk, yell or scream for help will stop, rescuers tell us.. “Your body is trying to survive. Your toes, your feet won’t work properly — your hands, eventually your elbows, your shoulders. It’s trying to keep your core warm.”
Once this happens, there is no way for a person to hold on to a rope, a hand or even the ice. Within minutes the body loses all ability to save itself.
Emergency rescuers have one simple message for everyone to stay safe during these colder months: Stay off the ice.
