Whether it’s a backyard pond, an area lake or the Potomac River, first responders are urging the public to stay off the ice.
Pete Piringer, spokesperson for Montgomery County’s Fire and Rescue Service, told WTOP, “Any kind of natural ice is problematic — it might be thick in one area and thin in another.”
D.C. Harbormaster Lt. Andrew Horos, with the D.C. police department’s Harbor Patrol Unit, echoed that.
Horos said the department has an airboat that it can use in the kind of frigid weather the region has been experiencing.
“When we go out there, it will be on a thick sheet of ice, gliding across, and it looks exactly the same. We’ll move to another portion of ice, and the boat will sink in and crack the ice and fall in the water. So it’s very hard to tell how thick that ice is just by looking at it,” he said.
Horos pointed out that it’s important to understand that a seemingly placid, ice-covered surface is deceptive.
That’s especially true of the Potomac River, with its powerful currents.
“Unlike a pond, where you would fall through and you would kind of stay in that area and people would be able to come and rescue you; if you fall in that area with a strong undertow, you’re going to get swept under the ice, making it very dangerous and deadly,” Horos said.
Falling into cold water — even when it hasn’t frozen over — is also extremely hazardous, Piringer said.
“It only takes a couple of minutes before you will lose your breath, your body kind of shuts down, and you can become incapacitated and unable to get out,” he said.
Aside from the hazards posed by falling through the ice into frigid waters, Horos pointed out it’s illegal to walk on the river under D.C. Municipal Regulations.
Those regulations say that “no person shall engage in any recreational activities that include, or may result in, direct physical contact with ice on District of Columbia waters. These activities shall include, but not be limited to, walking on the ice, ice skating, ice sledding, ice boating, ice fishing and the use of a vehicle or other device on the ice.”
Piringer said that when it comes to getting out and enjoying the ice, whether it’s to practice slap shots or perfect your triple Lutz, “We believe the only really safe ice is in an ice rink.”
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