For the second time in less than a week, Thunder Bay Fire and Rescue have had to respond to people being out on the ice.
Firefighters responded to a call about two men out on the ice near Marina Park on Wednesday. The pair had walked out onto the ice toward the break wall. Firefighters used a water boat to head out onto the ice and retrieve the two men.
Police spoke to the two men and warned them not to go out onto the ice. The two then walked off toward Fort William Road.
A few days ago, three teenagers also wandered out onto the ice and made their way to the break wall. While firefighters didn’t go out onto the ice to retrieve them, they did wait until the three made it back safely to shore.
Platoon Chief John Mill said it’s typical to have people go out onto the ice during the winter months.
“Every winter this happens,” Mill said. “We get people wandering out onto the ice. They aren’t supposed to.
The harbour master has a couple of signs that say you aren’t allowed to go out onto the ice but people do. People think they are in trouble so we launch our boat and bring them back.”
Mill said it takes about 30 minutes for firefighters to go and fetch someone from the ice. He added even with more signs there’s no guarantee that people will listen to what they say.
“One of these days someone might go through the ice and get hurt,” he said. “It’s been unseasonably warm, the ice is dangerous and we want people to stay off it. You never know what’s going to happen out there.”
He added that at the very least they got some extra training with the boat.
Follow Jeff Labine on Twitter @Labine_reporter
