CHESTERFIELD − Winter may conjure pastoral images of people laughing and skating on frozen lakes and ponds, but an incident Saturday prompted emergency personnel to discourage such activities.
A child wandered out of an apartment off state Route 10 and onto a frozen pond where they fell through the thin ice into the cold water. Fortunately, theyoungster had been pulled from the water before emergency crews arrived and is expected to be OK.
Still, the incident sparked Chesterfield Fire & EMS to take to Facebook Saturday to remind residents to stay off ice no matter how enticing it may be.
“You should never walk on ice covered ponds or bodies of water,” Chesterfield Fire wrote on Facebook. “Please make sure your children know it’s not safe.”
According to the department, the ponds and lakes in Chesterfield are not deep enough to the ice to be strong enough to support human weight … even the weight of children. People who fall through ice into the water risk the chance of going into shock or suffering hypothermia.
This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Child safe after falling into icy pond in Chesterfield County
