North Shore Fire Rescue holds cold water rescue training as ice melts

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) – The North Shore Fire Department held cold water rescue training exercises this week in Milwaukee.

More than 80 members of North Shore Fire/Rescue participated in the annual training. Crews practiced techniques of saving people from several different scenarios in the water and on the ice. They say this is the best time of the year to train because the ice is thinning, making rescues trickier.

“These conditions are really perfect for us to train because you’re seeing crews as they get up towards an ice shelf, towards a victim, that ice is just falling apart and that’s really realistic for what we would see if someone were to go in,” Captain Dan Tyk said.

While crews were training, fishermen were out on the ice nearby. The fire department urges everyone to stay off the ice because it is not safe.