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January 28, 2021
ADAMS COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
Northglenn-ThorntonSentinel.com
VOLUME 57 | ISSUE 25
THIN ICE: Rescue crews gearing up for seasonal calls Dogs or people, Front Range pond ice usually too unreliable to be safe BY SCOTT TAYLOR STAYLOR@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
His face covered in a mask, halfsubmerged in freezing water with all the traffic of Interstate 25’s morning rush hour behind him, Thornton Firefighter and Paramedic Blake McCarthy struggled to be heard by his teammates along the shore as he struggled to lift the mannequin up onto the ice shelf. At the other end of the rope, a team waited for the word to start pulling the rope he’d wrapped around this charge. Lt. Tom Willard, the trainer from the neighboring North Metro Fire and Rescue District, suggested next time using hand signals to tell his teammates to pull. “We use the ‘tomahawk chop’ to tell them to pull,” Willard said. “You’re wearing the mask, in cold water with all that traffic noise behind you. It makes it pretty hard to be heard.” This was a training exercise, but the outcome would be the same: once the victim was clear of the ice, the team would pull him to shore and treat him medically. Willard said the rescue went as well as could be expected. “It was a pretty thick ice shelf and I think the life jacket on the dummy got stuck, so he had to work through that,” he said. “When it gets stuck like that, the team has to stop pulling while you figure out what’s going on. You risk injuring the person and just making it worse. But you did it, you worked through it we got him out.” The late winter weeks tend to see more ice rescues along Colo-
New program aims to help AdCo businesses STAFF REPORTS
education,” Farris said. “But the majority of ice rescues we get involved with start with a dog running out on the ice and then owner going out to try and save them.” It’s why local fire departments train for those situations. Teams from Thornton Fire and North Metro — which covers both Northglenn and Broomfield — spent a few days in mid-January doing just that, on Thornton’s Civic Center park pond and Broomfield’s Siena Reservoir. The scenario is usually the same: A rescue dummy is placed out in a hole in the ice somewhere in the middle of the bond. A firefighter must crawl out to the dummy, wrap it in a rope and lift it over the edge of the ice the team along the shore can pull it to safety with the rope. “Sometimes, it’s easier to send a boat to the edge of the ice and do the rescue that way,” Farris said.
Adams County rolled out a new program to help small businesses during the times of the pandemic. “Maintain & Sustain Adams - 5 Star Certification program lets businesses provide a safety plan and set more stringent safety measures to operate under state guidelines,” according to a statement released by Adams County on Jan. 22. “Business that get the certification can operate with indoor capacity limits that are one step lower on the COVID dial system than where the county’s reading sits, according to a statement. Those that remain in good standing won’t have to reapply. This is a pilot program open to the first 100 applicants. The county’s statement said with further Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment approvals, expected in February, the program will be opened to a greater number of businesses. The county applied to the CDPHE for full recognition of the program and is waiting on an official response, but businesses can apply through the online portal to jumpstart the process, according to the statement. “Many businesses have invested money and time into reopening safely during this pandemic, and we want to reward them for their efforts,” said commission chair Emma Pinter, according to the statement. “As long as a business maintains its certification, it can operate under a less restrictive
SEE RESCUE, P6
SEE BUSINESS, P23
Thornton Firefighter/Paramedic Blake McCarthy and weighted dummy are pulled across the icy Thornton’s Civic Center Park pond Jan. 19. It was part of a joint training exercise between the Thornton department and the Metro North Fire and Rescue PHOTO BY SCOTT TAYLOR District.
rado’s Front Range, what with the air temperatures ranging from the mid-60s one week to sub-freezing the next. All that freezing and thawing can lead to ice of varying thickness on the same body of water. The neighborhood pond might support a whole hockey team in one spot, but a dog would sink through on the other side of the pond. “And if the dog does break through the ice, don’t try to save it yourself,” said North Metro Fire District’s Public Information Officer Sara Farris. “If the ice won’t support a dog, it won’t support you.” Common calls
Farris said ice rescues, ranging from small ponds to large reservoirs, tend to be one of the more common calls the departments respond to this time of year. “People will call 911 when they just see kids on the ice, and we respond to come out and get them off of there, maybe give them
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