Fishermen rescued from rapidly changing ice conditions

Fishermen rescued on Lake Simcoe High winds caused two fishermen to float away from shore on Lake Simcoe minutes after venturing out.

“I noticed the lake had opened up about 50 to 60 feet very quickly.”  Brenda Dorward was keeping a watchful eye on the conditions of Lake Simcoe from her Oro-Medonte backyard.

She says she feared for two anglers who ventured out early Wednesday morning when she noticed the ice conditions rapidly changing.

“I knew someone was in trouble because now the lake was close to 100-feet wide and I couldn’t see any point where they could make it back to shore, so  I phoned 9-1-1,” says Dorward.

Emergency crews responded to the 9th Line boat launch and with the help of the airboat brought the two men safely to shore.

Oro-Medonte's District Chief John Cuppage says conditions this morning started favourable, but when the high winds moved in, things changed.

“There’d be a good three to four inches of solid ice, but when the winds come in, northwesterly winds come in, it opened up the crack and pushed it wide open,” Cuppage says.

The Oro-Medonte fire department says the two won’t face charges under the township’s cost and recovery by-law because they would have had no way to predict the drastic change in the weather.