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As the weather fluctuates in the Okanagan, ice on water bodies in the valley is no longer safe to be on.

“Generally, it’s not safe. We’ve had big fluctuations with temperature, the ice is not looking very safe because we’re starting to see a lot of stress cracks in the ice, and we’re seeing open water,” Lake Country Fire Department Fire Chief Steve Windsor said. “Unless you know how to test the ice by actually drilling it, it’s unsafe for the average person to be out there.”

Although the temperature cools down at night, it’s not enough to actually make good ice.

The Penticton Fire Department is also advising residents to stay off lakes and rivers within the city.

“Right now, any lakes and rivers are not safe, because we’ve had temperatures where the ice has thawed out and froze again, it’s unstable ice for any activity in our city,” training officer for the Penticton Fire Department, Andrew Bird, said.

The minimum thickness of ice that’s considered safe to walk on is four inches.

“The clear solid ice, that’s the ice you want to see. Especially in our climate in Penticton, we get the freezing, thawing, and then freezing again, that type of ice isn’t stable, and any ice that has moving water under it, such as the creek is also not stable,” Bird said.

“The colour of the ice is very important,” Windsor added.

Unstable ice is typically white in colour and could have snow on top of it.

Although the ice is unsafe for residents to be on, it is useful for firefighters.

“For us, it’s good conditions for training because firefighters have to break through the ice and get into the water, but for an average person walking out there it’s not good conditions at all,” Windsor said.

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If there is another cold period in the Okanagan, and ice strength increases, Bird reminds residents to never go on ice alone, and check the stability of the ice every 100 feet.

“If people are going to go out on the ice, wear a life jacket. If you fall through that’s going to be your lifeline right there,” Bird said. “And have ice picks or anything handy to assist with self-rescue if you were to fall in. It isn’t easy climbing out of the water onto the ice.”

Throughout the years, the Penticton Fire Department has received a few calls of pets or wildlife falling through the ice, but rescuing people who have fallen through the ice is not common.

“There hasn’t been a lot of those types of calls, but we are prepared if it does happen,” Bird said. “The ice is not safe at this time, please stay off the ice on the rivers and the lakes in the city.”

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