Hamlin firefighters rescue man from ice

On Friday, February 25, the Hamlin Volunteer Fire Department rescued Harry Schouten, a 69-year-old ice fisherman who had fallen into Sandy Creek. Schouten, an experienced ice fisherman, was preparing for a morning of fishing on the creek near its junction with Lake Ontario when he fell through. An inch of fresh snow covered the ice and masked its thinning condition. Schouten spent about an hour in the water. A passing motorist on the Lake Ontario Parkway spotted him and called 911.

The Hamlin Fire Department rescue squad 2418 was dispatched at 9:51 a.m. and responded within five minutes to the scene. The rescue truck carries, among other items, two "Mustang" cold-water rescue suits and an AVON inflatable boat. Upon arrival firefighters Joe Burke and Mark Jacobs suited up, probationary fireman Mike Stevenson assisted while fireman Mike Marchetti got a throw rope out to Schouten but they were unable to pull him out. Chief Daryl Prince arrived and took up incident command on the parkway bridge over the creek. Assistant Chief Tom Sercu and several more firemen and four more cold-water rescue suits arrived minutes later. Sercu took over operations from the shore.

Burke and Jacobs ventured onto the ice with Stevenson and Marchetti backing them up with tether lines from the shore. Burke make contact with Schouten and ended up getting into the hole with him in order to use the Mustang suit's buoyancy to lift him onto the solid ice and bring him to the shore. The rescue took about 13 minutes. Schouten was transported to Lakeside Memorial Hospital, treated for hypothermia and released.

Mutual aid was received from the Morton and Hilton Fire Departments.