From the Huntsville/Lake of Bays Fire Department
This Family Day Weekend, don’t forget about ice safety! Due to inconsistent and unseasonably warm temperatures over the past couple of weeks, the Huntsville / Lake of Bays Fire Department urges residents and visitors to be particularly vigilant around ice on bodies of water and moving water during this long weekend. The ice may not be safe.
Be sure to assess ice conditions thoroughly before engaging in any activities on the ice, and ensure adequate ice thickness for the type of activity and number of participants. When in doubt, choose another activity.
Parents and guardians are advised to remind children about ice safety rules and to always seek help from an adult before engaging in ice activities. When ice conditions are dangerous, children should be directed to stay clear of open waters, creeks and rivers.
For more information, please refer to this ice safety article from Destination Ontario.
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Justin Stothers says
Ice safety.. ok. Well you give us fire ratings why not Ice ratings? Why not at least add I to this message the required thickness to support a person/5 persons/a hut/atv. They all require a different thickness. As a local here of over 30 years. I can’t tell you what the Ice thickness is supposed to be. It’s not a point that’s pushed to the public. And for such a touristy area and how many people who lack general common sense safety awareness come up this way and end up dying or seriously injured due to a lack of knowledge.
Kudos to you for putting out a reminder to be safe.. but why not add some safety details? Or do you not know how thick the ice is supposed to be in order to be safe or don’t want any accountability if someone goes through at a thick ess that you said was safe. So you just just tell people. To “avoid it” we live in canada. We might be free but we don’t have a smart population. Especially when it comes to bush safety. Weather safety. Pretty much anything to do that isn’t city related. We all might live in canada but theres very few of us who can actually say we’re Canadian and can live off the land and survive in the bush.
Wendy J Brown says
The problem is water currents, within a few feet the ice thickness can change from safe to just looking like ice. Take Hunters Bay for example. When i was young before the bridge on the highway was put in, the current went down the north shore. Now the current comes down the south shore and right in front of Avery Beach. The current at Kinsman Beach coming down from the BigEast is the same. Unless you know the lake you dont realize that the current comes out the side of the penninsula not straight out the front. So ask a local that has lived here for many years , which unfortunatly they are becoming less and less.