Coast Guard practices ice rescues on Lake Michigan

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The U.S. Coast Guard practiced ice rescues on Lake Michigan Thursday, when conditions were perfect for such exercises. But the message remains, for spring, as it was in the winter: Stay off the ice.

The U.S. Coast Guard practiced ice rescues on Lake Michigan Thursday, when conditions were perfect for such exercises. The varying temperatures of March mean ice is unstable, giving officers the opportunity to demonstrate their water rescue prowess just as they're about to hit a busy season.

"The people that's fallen through the ice are the curious, people who may feel the ice is safe, so they want to transit onto the ice," says Chief Warrant Officer Philip Robinson. "It's that unknown, walking on something that's an unknown. And then you get the ice fishermen, throughout the Great Lakes."

Coast Guard offices drill in and on the water every day, helping even reporters get to safety.

Typically in these cold temperatures they'll anchor a rope closer to shore then carefully approach a victim in the water. A person unlucky enough to find themselves in such circumstances has just seconds to survive. And would-be civilian rescuers need to remember to do the right thing: contact emergency responders.

"The first response needs to be call 911," Robinson says. "Let's get the professionals who are trained, every day, to do this job."

Robinson says that civilians who attempt ice rescues find themselves in trouble, "typically every time."

After several minutes in the water, where the physical forces want both to freeze and to pull a victim under the shelf ice, everyone is grateful to get out.

With the warm weather expected over the next week, the ice is going to start to melt and become even more unstable.