Maine Officials Warn About Ice Safety Following Death, Rescues

Denmark first responders practice using the ice rescue sled. (Courtesy of Denmark Fire Department)

Maine officials are urging residents to take precautions when going out on frozen ponds and lakes following the death of a man who fell through ice on Friday.

On Jan. 26, Kevin Howell, 51, and his 4-year-old son broke through the ice as they were crossing Etna Pond in Carmel, Maine, according to the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office.

Howell managed to lift his son out of the water onto the ice and told him to get his mother. The boy ran home and notified his mother, who then called 911 and rushed to help her husband with an anchor and rope, according to the sheriff’s office. However, she ended up falling through the ice as well.

Penobscot Sheriff Detective Jordan Norton was in the area and heard the 911 call. He immediately responded and spotted Howell’s wife in the water. Using the rope, Norton was able to pull her out of the freezing water and get her onto shore, the sheriff’s office said.

The detective looked for Howell but could not find him. Six Maine Warden Service divers and one State Police diver arrived to join the rescue effort, according to the sheriff’s office. Howell’s body was recovered after 20 minutes of searching.

Mark Latti of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife said that the ice is unsafe on many water bodies so far this year.

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“It’s been an unusual winter compared to what we’re used to,” Latti told Press Herald Sunday. “Like last year, the ice has come in late, and (there is) treacherous ice in certain areas well into January. So, like we always do, we’re urging people to check the ice before going out, and not just check it in one area,” but multiple spots. There should be at least 4 to 6 inches of hard ice, he said.

In a separate incident, five people were rescued over the weekend when their utility vehicle fell through the ice in Denmark, Maine, according to the Denmark Fire Department.

“[The vehicle] sank in about seven feet of water, so the five people [could] barely fit standing on top of the roof of the vehicle, and they started yelling for help, and it took, from what we could determine, somewhere around 10 to 15 minutes for the people in the house [nearby] to hear them calling,” Denmark Fire Chief Chris Wentworth told News Center Maine.

According to the Denmark Fire Department, all five patients were transported to a local hospital for treatment, and the incident remains under investigation by the Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife.

Officials advised Maine residents to bring flotation devices, ice picks, and ice chisels to check the thickness of ice before venturing out onto ice this winter.

“I would absolutely caution anyone taking any type of machine out onto the ice right now,” Wentworth told the outlet. “In this area, there’s constantly water flowing, which makes it also difficult for the ice to form unless we have an exceptionally cold winter.”

According to the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, there are “no guarantees” when it comes to determining whether ice on lakes and ponds is safe.

“Always consider ice to be potentially dangerous,” MassWildlife officials wrote on the agency’s website. “You can’t judge ice conditions by appearance or thickness alone; many other factors like water depth, size of waterbody, water chemistry, currents, snow cover, age of ice, and local weather conditions impact ice strength.”

For more information, check out these safety tips.