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WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAW) -- With a busy weekend likely ahead for ice fishing, safety on the ice becomes more important - and the Wausau Fire Department has a new tool to perform rescues should emergency strike.
Even before the DNR's free ice fishing weekend, Benjamin Martinez was among many anglers taking advantage of a milder winter day and fishing out on the ice. He was helping his father get reacquainted with ice fishing for the first time in 15 years.
"I've been wanting to go with him for a while and finally got him to come out today," Martinez said.
Martinez said he got himself hooked about 8 years ago.
"I remember the summer I started really getting into fishing, so as soon as the ice started to form I thought why not try it?" Martinez explained.
With the free ice fishing weekend, holes in the ice of frozen Wisconsin waterways are bound to become more common, while safety will be more of a concern.
Lieutenant Michael Becker with the Wausau Fire Department said ice is thick in many fishing spots around central Wisconsin, but some areas are still a bit thin.
"You have to know the areas, and don't drive where you don't know if the ice is good or not," Becker said. "Even though we have a lot of ice in certain places, there's still a lot of other places that have thin ice to no ice because of the spring and the current."
If any fisherman falls through the ice, the fire department is prepared thanks to the newest tool in their garage - an air boat.
"We can launch it from anywhere," Becker said. We don't have to be at a boat landing, we can launch it from dry land."
The air boat lets crews get out to the rescue site quickly, without relying on launching their rescue raft from the shoreline only. The ropes used with the raft can reach far, but there's a limit.
"So we can put the air boat in, and we and actually operate off the air boat to perform the rescue," Becker explained.
A reason for anglers to have a little more peace of mind to focus on having fun and catching fish.
