Paul Bass Photo
Kyle Walker tested out the ice in Edgewood Park’s duck pond — then fell through. Pete Callan grabbed a sled and a “noodle” to save him.
Callan was ready. He already had on a yellow waterproof Mustang survival rescue suit.
Walker had one on, too. Fortunately.
Callan and Walker are firefighters with six months on the job. On Monday their colleagues from the Ellsworth Avenue fire station took advantage of the pond’s icy conditions to train the two rookies in cold-water rescues.
As they suited up, Ed Taylor (at left in photo with Walker) …
… and Lt. Tim Kieley (at right in photo) briefed them on tactics, then coached them from the shore. Others helped hold onto a rope to which the firefighters were attached. “You can’t get any more realistic than this,” West Battalion Chief Billy Gould said of the conditions — kids regularly traipse onto ice when it forms on the duck pond, even though they risk plunging into frigid, life-threatening waters.
Walker (son of retired fire Capt. Michael Walker) crawled to the center of the pond, spikes in hand. Sure enough, the ice cracked. Into the water he dropped.
“Pete, he’s distressed!” called Kieley, sending Callan crawling toward Walker. He arrived at an expanding mini-lake amid the ice.
Callan wrapped the floating noodle around Walker. At first the noodle wrapped around Walker’s arm: Callan needed to free it from the arm and wrap it snugly around Walker’s body. He fastened the noodle to the rope. “Kyle, you OK?” Kieley asked Walker, who nodded in assent.
“Get him out up on the sled,” called Kieley. That proved tricky. Walker would get on the sled, then slip. Trickiest of all was maneuvering the sled so the front tipped into the air. A lot was happening at once. “You didn’t hook the thing into the sled,” Kieley informed Callan from the shore. “Hook that tether on the front of the sled into the eye hook on the rope.”
“Now get behind him. [We’re] gonna start pulling him in now.”
They arrived safely …
… with lessons learned, about positioning the sled and fastening the noodle, in preparation for a true emergency call. On the one hand, a real victim might be easier to rescue because he wouldn’t be wearing a heavy waterproof survival suit, Gould noted. On the other hand, depending on how quickly the firefighters arrive, a victim suffering hypothermia can become disoriented and fight against a rescuer.
“Nice work,” the veterans congratulated the rookies. Pictured from left: Kieley, Walker, Taylor, Callan, Mike Milano, Chick Kranyak, Richard Greene, Michael Christoforo, Gould.
This video contains scenes from the mock rescue.
It's good to see this training take place, and to know that the Ellsworth Fire Station is close. On Saturday I drove by that area and saw children down at he duck pond playing on the ice. I would suggest that NH Parks put up WARNING SIGNS and when NHPD drive by that are they make an special effort to look in that directions to make sure no kids are down there. It's great we have trained professionals to handle a life threatening situation as falling thru ice, but that pond is a long way down the hill and far from any residences ... precious time would be lost waiting for help.