Firefighters Save Kids Stranded in Frozen Pond

saved the life of two children who had fallen through a sheet of ice and into a local retention pond.

Firefighters were called to the 200 block of Lindsey Lane, where two children—ages 11 and 15—had allegedly been playing on the ice when it gave way, a village release said.

The 11-year-old child, with the assistance of the older child, was able to crawl on top of the ice and make it to shore. The 15-year-old, though, was unable to get out. 

A lifeguard from the noticed the children had fallen through the ice and tried to assist. The lifeguard, the release said, also fell through the ice in attempts to rescue the children, and the lifeguard and 15-year-old child were exposed to the freezing water for 10 minutes before being rescued by the fire department.

All three victims were treated by firefighters for hypothermia and transported to in good condition. 

Firefighters were able to rescue the victims thanks, in large part, to special cold water immersion suits, which are carried on every fire truck and provide protection to both the water and cold temperatures.

The is warning residents of the dangers of skating or walking on frozen ponds and retention areas.

Early in the season, as we experience fluctuations in the temperatures both above and below freezing, (32 degrees Fahrenheit) what may appear to the eye as a thick coat of ice may actually be very thin and unable to support the weight of a small child," the release said.

The retention pond the children had been trapped in was several feet deep.

In August, Jeremy Asbell, a 25-year-old Bolingbrook father of two, died in a canoeing accident in a Lemont retention pond.