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CLEARFIELD — The North Davis Fire District is warning people not to step on the ice at Steed Pond in Clearfield after reporting several people fell through the ice in a matter of hours on Saturday.
The fire department said that two boys, ages 11 and 12, fell through the ice into the pond Saturday afternoon. Battalion Chief Allen Hadley explained the boys went in over their heads in an area where they couldn't touch the bottom of the pond.
"As we responded, when we got there, we learned that there was a lady there with her children at a playground who saw it happen, and she went in after the kids and was able to pull them out or help them to the shore," he said.
Hadley said his crew found the boys cold and wet but uninjured. They warmed the children up in an ambulance while waiting for their parents to pick them up.
The crew returned to Steed Pond a little while later to put out signs warning people of the dangerous conditions. Hadley explained that when he arrived, he spotted three little girls out on the ice with what appeared to be their mom or babysitter onshore.
As he got out to warn them of the thin ice, one of the girls fell through up to her knees and started crying — the fourth person to end up in the water in one afternoon.
They posted signs all around the pond that say, Caution! Ice is unsafe.
Hadley said he had happened to stop by Steed Pond earlier on Saturday to survey it for an ice rescue training scheduled on Sunday. He noticed a family on the ice, fishing. At the time, Hadley reported the ice was thick enough to hold them up.
But everything changed as the day went on, and all the others tried to walk out on the ice.
"They don't really consider the fact that we've had rain, the weather is starting to get warm, the ice is starting to melt, and it changes rapidly — like within 24 hours there was a significant change," Hadley said. "Don't try to get that last fishing trip in if the ice isn't safe. Don't risk it."
Don't try to get that last fishing trip in if the ice isn't safe. Don't risk it.
–Battalion Chief Allen Hadley, North Davis Fire District
The North Davis Fire District crew carried on its already scheduled ice water rescue training Sunday morning. Hadley explained that the pond was in even worse condition, and the firefighters were falling through the ice.
Hadley is warning parents to keep their kids off the ice and away from the water, not just for Steed Pond but for bodies of water up and down the Wasatch Front.
"With the heavy snow that we've gotten this year, the runoff this year is going to be even worse than we've seen in the years past," he said. "Watch your kids. Don't get too close to the water. Wear your life jackets ... be extra cautious because it just happens so fast."
