Keep off: Lake ice is just a veneer

As DNR conservation officer Ben Huener was inspecting fish houses on Lake of the Woods last week, he suddenly found himself in the water, fighting for his life.

He pulled himself to safety using small ice picks -- standard issue for conservation officers -- and radioed for help before hypothermia set in.

Stories like Huener's are increasingly common around the state as people, ATVs and fish houses break through thin ice caused by unseasonably warm weather, leading to warnings to stay off the ice until winter starts behaving normally.

"We're seeing this from New Ulm to Lake of the Woods," said Rich Sprouse, a spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR). "It's been a very unusual winter in Minnesota."

DNR officials are using Huener's experience as a cautionary tale to get the word out about the dangers of thin ice.

"If this can happen to a conservation officer, it can happen to anyone," Sprouse said.

That's borne out by law enforcement reports around the state: A 30-year-old man and his 3-year-old son went through ice on an ATV near Sauk Centre Thursday, leading to a "dangerous ice warning" from the Todd County Sheriff's Office; an ice skater and ATV rider plunged through on Turtle Lake in Shoreview, after which the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office said it was closing the lake to vehicles; Minneapolis firefighters rescued two fishermen who fell through on Cedar Lake. On Saturday, there were at least three reports of people falling through ice, including on Riley Lake in Eden Prairie and Lake Minnetonka. On the east side of Pelican Lake in Grant County, a man and his 5-year-old son were riding an all-terrain vehicle that fell through the ice Saturday morning. The man grabbed his son and got him onto the ice before pulling himself out of the water, the Sheriff's Office said.

The message from law enforcement: Stay off the lakes.

"Right now we're advising people to stay off all of the lakes in Ramsey County," said Inspector Jack Serier, head of the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office Water Patrol.

"The ice is definitely not safe," said Lt. Steve Hartig of the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office Water Patrol, whose department earlier in the week had an iceboat go into Lake Minnetonka in Orono. As Hartig's crew assessed the submerged iceboat, a nearby fish house fell through. It was about the sixth fish house to be submerged in Hennepin County in the past couple of weeks.

The warnings aren't scaring some. "I'm not doing anything different than last winter," Jason Hines of Brainerd said Thursday, days after hauling a 4,000-pound fish house onto Gull Lake. "You just got to use your head and be smart."

Still, the thin ice and lack of snow has resulted in fewer fish houses on lakes, or fish houses being put out much later than normal.

At Ernie's on Gull, a restaurant and bar, owners Zac Swarthout and Chris Foy said they normally can see about 300 fish houses near their establishment. This year: 30 or so.

Probably the area with the most rescues and submerged fish houses is Otter Tail County in west-central Minnesota, where a dozen or more of the structures have reportedly gone through the thin ice.

Tuesday night, two men from Austin survived when their ATV hit a hole in the ice and plunged into Dead Lake. On Sunday, a Monticello man fell through on Norway Lake on his four-wheeler. The week before, a man ended up in the water while driving his ATV across Crystal Lake.

All told, Otter Tail County personnel have rescued six people in less than two weeks, said Lt. Barry Fitzgibbons of the Sheriff's Office.

"We're encouraging people not to go on the lakes," Fitzgibbons said. "But we can't control that. It's always travel at your own risk. Without [colder] weather I don't see that changing anytime soon."

In Otter Tail County, temperatures in December have been more than 10 degrees above normal, according to the National Weather Service. In the Lake of the Woods area, temps have been about 8.5 degrees warmer than normal. Temperatures are expected to be remain above normal for at least the next two weeks or so.

"Without any snow, the ice on the lakes looks great, like an ice rink," said Serier, of the Ramsey County Water Patrol. "But there are some thin spots. Thankfully, we haven't had any fatalities -- as yet."