Local officials remind residents that the ice on local ponds is still not safe to be on.
GOSHEN, MA – Goshen Fire, Goshen Police, MA State Police, and Highland Ambulance responded to Upper Highland Lake (in the D.A.R. State Forest) at 1615 hours today for a report of a subject that had fallen through the ice.
A bystander who was in the area made the call to 911 which alerted local first responders.
Rescue 1 and Brush 1 responded to the boat launch along with 10 firefighters. The male subject, who had been ice fishing, had fallen through ice that was approximately 2″ thick near the gazebo on the south shore of the lake. When firefighters arrived on scene, the subject had gotten himself out of the water and was making his way towards the emergency lights on shore.
First responders had inflated the Rapid Deployment Craft and had donned protective drysuits in case he fell in again. Ultimately, no personnel went out onto the ice.
Once on shore, the man was escorted to the ambulance for assessment.
As outlined on the Mass.gov website, there are no guarantees for knowing whether the ice is safe to be on. Always consider ice to be potentially dangerous. 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.
The ice fisherman refused medical treatment and was returned to his car after he was somewhat dried out and warmed up.
