Question

On occasion, fire departments receive emergency calls regarding people that have fallen through the ice on frozen lakes or ponds. Throwing a rope or line to the victim is sometimes ineffective because the victim panics or because hypothermia precludes any possibility of a safe rescue. When firefighters lay a wooden ladder on the ice and use it as a crawlway to extend direct reach to the victim, what would this be considered?

A. Safe; even if the ice were to break, the ladder would float.

B. Unsafe. It would be quicker to just walk to the edge of the ice and pull the victim out of the water.

C. The safest alternative considering the circumstances. The ladder serves to displace weight over a wider area and thus makes it less likely that the ice will break further.

D. Unsafe. The added weight of the ladder may cause the ice to break further, thus complicating effective rescue.

Answer 1

Firefighters using a ladder on the ice to reach a victim is considered the safest method given the circumstances, as it spreads the rescuer's weight over a larger area, decreasing the chance of further ice breakage.

Step-by-step explanation:

When firefighters lay a wooden ladder on the ice and use it as a crawlway to extend direct reach to the victim, this would be considered the safest alternative considering the circumstances. The reason behind this is that the ladder helps to displace weight over a wider area, which in turn reduces the likelihood of the ice breaking further under the concentrated weight of a rescuer. This method leverages the understanding that ice is less dense than liquid water, and so it floats, providing an insulating layer across bodies of water which can support distributed weight more efficiently than concentrated weight. As such, by using a ladder, firefighters are able to minimize the risk to both themselves and the victim. In addition, since ice forms a protective surface layer that insulates the rest of the water, the ladder will not sink but rather float, should the ice give way beneath it.