(Rob Pratt/ supplied photo)

By Ian Gustafson

Stay off the ice

Fourth vehicle in nine days falls through Sylvan Lake ice

Jan 7, 2025 | 2:01 PM

Another vehicle has fallen though the ice at Sylvan Lake.

This incident marked the fourth time in nine days a vehicle has broken through and police are calling on the public to stay off the ice with heavy equipment.

The incident occurred on Sunday, Jan. 5 at approximately 4:42 p.m. when the Sylvan Lake RCMP received a call that a vehicle had broken through the ice near Marina Bay.

According to RCMP Cpl. Troy Savinkoff, the area where the vehicle broke through is an issue due to its proximity to a spring fed water source nearby.

The vehicle is completely submerged under water and as of Jan. 6, it remained in the lake and arrangements were being made to remove it.

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Savinkoff says two individuals were in the vehicle at the time and both were able to escape. They were both checked by EMS on scene and were uninjured.

On Dec. 28, the RCMP put out a warning to the public to keep vehicles off the ice after two vehicles broke through. Just two days later, police responded to a third incident and luckily, no injuries were reported.

Savinkoff explained that the four incidents took place in separate areas on the lake ice, highlighting its unpredictability.

One was contributed to an area where the ice was thin, another was due to a vehicle hitting a crack in the ice, and the first two involved fisherman further out in the lake.

Looking ahead at this week’s forecast, the weather doesn’t appear to be getting any colder with plus temperatures expected on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada.

Although there has been no order by police, their call for people to keep vehicles and heavy equipment off the ice remains.

“We had a bit of stretch of cold temperatures and despite that, we still saw another vehicle go into the ice,” Savinkoff said.

“I would double down on that encouragement to stay off. The thickness of ice, we did take some thickness readings and they were right around that stage where it’s OK but that being said, it varies across the lake. We would definitely encourage people to stay off the ice and the longterm forecast is not encouraging as far as the ice is concerned going forward.”

Earl Bruyea of Trio Towing Professionals, a towing company located in Red Deer, has been called to pull out two of the four vehicles.

He explained that one was removed by the owner and Bruyea worked on a Dodge truck that he nearly had out four different times but there wasn’t enough ice to support it.

For safety reasons, he abandoned the truck until the recent cold snap where he was able to retrieve it. On New Year’s Day another truck went through the ice near Jarvis Bay according to Bruyea, who is still working on getting it out.

The most recent vehicle that went through on Monday, he said he’s not sure if it was retrieved yet because he wasn’t contacted for that situation.

“It’s not good for the environment, fishing community, and it’s not good all around basically,” he said.

“If you don’t know the ice conditions, don’t assume. Just because you see other people out there doesn’t mean it’s safe. The ice has different levels of thickness all over. Everyone sees cars on the ice and think it’s good because someone is out there in a quarter-ton Toyota, and then some guy goes in a big lifted Diesel. It’s not the same.

“Speed plays a big part in the matter. If you’re out there doing donuts you’re probably going to be swimming.”