LEXINGTON,Ky. — With the cooler temperatures, firefighters in Fayette County are warning people to stay off of what may seem like ice on ponds. 

What You Need To Know

  • Lexington Fire Department practicing ice-rescues

  • Captain Whited says the ice in Kentucky rarely gets thick enough to be on the ice

  • First responders could practice in realistic ice conditions

  • Lexington Fire Department is urging people to stay off of the ice during these winter months

Captain Dustin Whited with the Lexington Fire Department says his crew gets very few chances of practicing ice rescue in realistic conditions. 

“We don’t have the winters that they have to build that really thick ice to ice fish and to be out playing. So we very commonly have people that fall through the ice. So that’s why we’re here, but it’s one of the things. It’s a necessity around here. So we do it so that somebody else doesn’t have to try and go out and get somebody and have more than one person get hurt,” Whited said.

Whited says it takes about 2 inches of ice to keep someone above the water and around 4 inches for a group of people. But because of Kentucky weather, Whited says most ponds and lakes only freeze about an inch or less.

“If you get out there you hear the ice cracking or something, try and lay down and as far as you can and try and crawl across, get you know, get on your stomach and try and pull yourself across. Anything you can do to make that footprint on the ice bigger is going to help you but you shouldn’t be on the ice,” Whited said.

As first responders, they are asking for community members to stay off of the ice to keep everyone safe.