Walworth County’s biggest lake might be Geneva Lake, but if you’re into fishing, Town of Delavan Police Chief Raymond Clark expects people to come to Delavan Lake.
“It’s more of a sportsman lake,” he explained. “People like to fish. I understand that. I do.”
But in the space of two weeks, the Town of Delavan Police and Fire departments had to respond to four calls of people going through the ice – two ATVs, one snowmobile and one ice boat.
As a result, Clark is asking that people remember one simple rule: “No ice is safe ice.”
“From the police department standpoint, as always, when you’re on the ice, it’s a dangerous activity,” Clark said. “Please make sure it is stable enough to support the activity or activities you are engaging in.
“The ice is unstable. It is always changing,” he added.
Fortunately, there were no fatalities with any of the four incidents. However, in going out to rescue those who went out on the ice, more lives were at risk.
“I have to put the officers’ lives and our fire department’s lives at risk,” Clark said. “We’ll gladly do that, but it’s creating more of a risk.”
There are added difficulties on Delavan Lake, Town of Delavan Sergeant Erik Voss said.
“Oftentimes, we have a difficult time locating the stranded person due to poor location reporting,” Voss said. “Delavan Lake is not small, and the stranded person advising they can see the Lake Lawn water tower doesn’t help the responders a lot.”
In addition, Voss said that Delavan Lake’s ice can vary greatly, going from 10 inches to 2 inches in a matter of feet.
“There are a lot of different factors to consider and where have been having problems are near the ice heaves, which are sheets of ice that push against each other or the shoreline due to rapid temperature changes of the air and water.
“Additionally, the areas around channels or outlets are dangerous because of the constant moving water,” he added.
Voss said local bait shops or online fishing forums are the best bet for up-to-date ice conditions. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources does not report ice conditions throughout the state.
“We’ve been fortunate that we haven’t had any fatalities so far this year, but after working here for nearly 30 years, I can tell you I’ve been to enough of these calls where unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.
“People need to plan ahead in terms of equipment and research and just realize the lake can’t be controlled by man.”
For more on ice safety, go to dnr.wisconsin.gov and search “ice safety.”
