Coast guard’s icebreaker appears in Midland Harbour, prompting warning from authorities

The Canadian Coast Guard Ship Griffon was in Midland’s harbour on Tuesday breaking up ice to allow the safe travel of vessels.

Both police and local fire warn the public it’s never safe out on the ice, but particularly now.

“The weak ice makes it dangerous for our sledders or people going out for a walk on the ice because there is a false sense of security there because there is a covering of snow, and they think the ice is safe unfortunately it’s not,” said Fire Chief Richard Renaud.

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With so much snow on the ground sledders are out on local trails.

Those riding next to the lake on Wednesday said people need to know when the icebreaker comes through because it can be deadly.

“It’s a good idea to let people know because as soon as they see it frozen over - and sometimes it looks okay with snow on top of it - but it’s so thin underneath in spots you can go right through,” said snowmobiler Bruce Whittington.

Officials said doing activities on or near the water can be a risk. Knowing the condition of the ice is a top priority.

“There will be a small layer on the top that’s frozen, but it can’t support sleds of people walking on it, and then when the ship comes in later this week again it will break it up again make it weak even more,” added Reneau.

“The ice is very unpredictable. It can move … we recommend that everybody stay off it at this point, but if you were to go on it, you know the area and you take the appropriate precautions,” said OPP Const. Jamie Stamp.

Emergency response teams are reminding people the appearance of the harbour can be deceiving. They say it may look like it’s frozen over yet again, but it has not and are asking people to stay off.