Recue workers stage an ice rescue at Sacheen Lake Saturday. (Courtesy photo|Dennis Merritt)

By Don Gronning | Of The Miner • January 12, 2011

SACHEEN LAKE – Twenty responders from South Pend Oreille Fire and Rescue (SPOFR) practiced their ice rescue skills Saturday, Jan. 8, on Sacheen Lake, using special rescue sleds, survival suits and ropes designed for ice rescue. The equipment is kept at the Sacheen Lake and Diamond Lake stations.

Pend Oreille Fire District 4 has the same equipment staged at their Dalkena Station.

A call to 911 will get the units dispatched to the scene and people are advised to call 911 for help rather than try rescues on their own, especially animal rescues.

Saturday there was three inches of slushy water on top of five inches of solid ice. The ice is dangerous and there was a lot of variation in the ice thickness, said Perry Pearman, captain of the SPOFR.