(Arnolds Park)– Authorities are again urging those venturing out on to the ice this Winter Games Weekend to do so with extreme caution. While it may be extremely cold, Chris Yungbluth of Arnolds Park-Okoboji Fire/Rescue tells KUOO news ice conditions remain highly variable, especially on West Lake Okoboji. While the thickness on Smith’s Bay ranges from 13 to 14 inches, Yungbluth says it’s much thinner along points and under bridges, pretty similar to previous years…
“It’s the same rule we have every year: don’t drive under the bridges, don’t drive where there’s moving water. If you’re going to travel at night make sure you know where you’ve been or where you’re going and then have a plan so if you end up in the water make sure you can get back out. Things like something you can throw to somebody that’s in the water. Make sure you’re calling 911 right away especially with these cold weather temperatures we’re having. Hypothermia is going to set in pretty fast for them after they’ve been exposed to the water. Make sure to get rescuers on the way or a warm ambulance coming so we can at least get them into a warm environment and start treating them right away for that hypothermia or frost bite. And then a lot of these holes a distance away from immediate help, so it might take us a little bit to get out to you with the air boat or with a rescue vehicle and get you in a warm environment and get you back so you don’t have to walk a long distance out in the cold which we’ve had rescues before where they’ve been a mile out and pretty cold by the time we got to them.”
He urges everyone to be aware of the signs and symptoms of frostbite and hypothermia, which is especially dangerous…
“You know with hypothermia it starts off with the shivering as your body starts to cool down a little bit. The concern is when that shivering stops or when there’s any change in mentation, anything like that. Typically say about 10 minutes in the water is when hypothermia starts but you can survive up to an hour in the cold water before it gets to a life-threatening degree anyways where you can’t function as well, and that’s where your muscles start getting rigid, you start just not being able to think, your fine motor skills start to not work the way you want to. An example would be you try to grab a pencil or you try to grab a rope to help yourself out of the situation, you can’t do it because your muscles just don’t function as well when you’re getting really cold.”
Yungbluth adds special precautions need to be taken when treating someone suffering from hypothermia…
“Don’t try to treat them, especially the hypothermia patients, don’t be real rough with them, just try to get them covered with blankets. Don’t dunk them into a hot bath or anything like that, you can burn their skin because they don’t necessarily feel that cold or that hot and so you’re going to end up burning them because they can’t tell that they’re in too hot, the water’s too hot and their skin is going to be sensitive to that. The same with the frost bite. Don’t start re-warming them unless you know you can keep the re-warming process going until they’re completely warm.”
Yungbluth adds it’s very important to call 911 as soon as possible to seek treatment from medical professionals.
