ARLINGTON, MASS. (WHDH) - Officials are warning the public that despite frigid temperatures outside, many ponds remain unfrozen.
Firefighters in Arlington and Westborough spent Monday afternoon saving two skaters from icy waters after they fell into two separate ponds.
Emergency crews responding to Spy Pond in Arlington around 4:45 p.m. found a 68-year-old man who had been skating holding onto a piece of broken ice as his wife attempted to pull him out of the water about 100 yards from shore.
An officer provided rope for the man to hold on to, and shortly afterward, firefighters arrived wearing water rescue suits.
A firefighter jumped in the water to assist, and the Arlington Fire Department Water Rescue Sled was deployed across the ice and out to the skater. Firefighters used the sled to bring the man back to the shore, police said.
“By the time we pulled him out, got him into the ambulance, it was pitch black out so the difference of like 10 or 15 minutes could have made a huge difference,” Arlington Fire Lt. Kevin Burns said.
The couple was treated for hypothermia and brought to a local hospital.
Police say they are expected to make a full recovery.
More than an hour earlier at Mill Pond in Westborough, firefighters were busy rescuing a 19-year-old man who fell into the icy water while skating with a friend about 2,000 feet from shore.
Rescuers followed the man’s voice as screamed for help while clinging onto an ice shelf.
“He was giving everything he probably had left in him just to be able to yell to tell us where he was,” Westborough Firefighter Barry Sullivan said.
Crews successfully got the man back to shore where he was transported to UMass Memorial Medical Center.
Ironically, the firefighters were conducting ice rescue training before the call came in.
Officials are urging people to check the depth of the ice in multiple places before placing weight on it and to never go out on the ice alone.
(Copyright (c) 2024 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)