When temperatures get low the river freezes, and while many may think it is safe to walk on, that’s not always the case. On Saturday the Great Falls Fire Department held training exercises to prepare for the worst.

When freezing water is involved, there is no time to waste. That’s why the Great Falls Fire Department conducts ice rescue training each winter.

Chuck Rovreit, Battalion Chief, explains, “It is required and scheduled training that we do every year, and the reason we’re doing it is, obviously we live next to a river, and occasionally we have people or animals that go through the ice, that require our assistance. It doesn’t normally occur but we want to be sharp if it does happen. We use a couple approaches. One is we’ll cut a hole in the ice, which imitates somebody that’s gone through the ice, we’ll also do some training on the fringes of the ice.”

Even in waters of 50 degrees, a person has only a 50% chance of surviving more than 50 minutes. That’s all the more reason why rescuers must prepare for any type of situation.

Brandon Jaraczeski, an engineer, says, “We got the river running through town, and a lot of recreationists that like to walk their dogs down here. If a dog goes on the water and the owner chases it, they fall in, and now we got a rescue.”

Rescuers wear 10 lb. dry suits that serve as a way to keep them warm and dry when they are out on the ice.

Rescuers also offer some tips if you ever find yourself in a dangerous situation.

Jaraczeski says, “If they fall in, they’ll want to try and remain calm, spread their body out, try not to move a lot, because when they’ll try to get out they’ll waste a lot of energy and they’ll get tired and end up going under. We practice this every year so everyone’s pretty fluid in it. We’ll get out there and get our job done and the challenges will basically be the weather and making sure the patient isn’t hypothermic coming out. That’s going to be the biggest challenge.”

The Great Falls Fire Department is also reminding residents to stay away from the ice at all times, because even if it looks thick that might not be the case, and the ice could easily crack and you could fall in.