911 Calls Of 2 Teens Trapped On Thin Ice In Md. Serve As A Warning

PASADENA, Md. (WJZ)—The cold winter weather has already created a number of dangerous situations, including two boys trapped on a floating slab of ice in Anne Arundel County. WJZ now has the 911 calls made by the two teens after they walked out onto a frozen patch of the Magothy River and were unable to make it back to shore.

Rochelle Ritchie has listened to those 911 calls and has the details.

It's a reminder to people to stay off the ice. Even though the water may be frozen, it's not as thick as you think.

Dispatcher: "Fire and ambulance. What's the location of your emergency?"

Caller: "We are stuck on ice."

A calm teenager in Anne Arundel County called 911 after he and a friend walked out onto a frozen Magothy River and ended up stuck several feet from shore.

Dispatcher: "Are you in the water?

Caller: "No, we are on sheet of ice, but as we are talking it's melting more and more away. Like there's a river running in between us and ice."

Calls like this are all too common this time of year.

Lt. Richard Cleary says while it is cold, it's not cold enough to freeze the water solid.

"In the state of Maryland, no ice ever gets thick enough or safe enough to walk on--especially because we have tidal waters everywhere. With the tides moving up and down, it breaks the ice," Cleary said.

The call for help came in at 2:30. The caller, Jack, told the dispatcher how he and a friend ended up on thin ice.

Dispatcher: "How did you get there...Did you walk?"

Caller: "I walked out on the pier and then we got off, it was like all frozen, and then while we were out on ice, the pier all melted."

It took less than an hour to rescue the teens, who were cold but otherwise OK.

Caller: "They're sending the fire department now.  . . . Yeah. This is embarrassing."

Anne Arundel County fire officials say they go out on about four or five calls like this one each year.

The boys were taken to the hospital as a precaution.

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