Warmer weather makes ice unsafe

April 1, 2009

Snowmobilers who venture out on the ice could be in for a cold swim as warmer weather thaws frozen waterways around the Miramichi.

After a long winter the Miramichi Valley Snowmobile Club has started closing trails because of safety concerns brought on by thin ice.

Club secretary Gary Roy said the ice isn't safe any more and they don't recommend anyone use any of the main water crossings because there are several places where the ice is very thin.

"They could rot away any day."

The thinning ice already claimed one victim in New Brunswick when a 20-year- old woman drowned after riding her snowmobile into open water in Bathurst Harbour.

On Friday two teens, aged 17 and 18 were walking on the ice near the Federal Wharf when one of them fell through. Neither was hurt and police turned them over to them parents.

Several snowmobile tracks were also visible on the Miramichi River Sunday despite open water along the banks in several places.

Roy said the weather has been too warm for the club to groom the trails and they have started to see more places with open water on the south side of the river.

"Some of the ditches that we have to cross are filling up with water and stuff."

The trail system closes April 15 because of land agreements, regardless of the weather conditions.

There were places where the ice didn't freeze as much as in past years, so they had to do extra work to maintain the trails around waterways, he said.

"They were open in the first of March, which they never are, so we had to do some extra bridging."

Roy said because they didn't have good luck with freezing this year they recommend extreme caution when people are out snowmobiling.

"It could be perfect today and you could go back tonight and there could be a hole rotted out."

There are signs on the trails to let people know they are approaching ice, but they don't update them on the safety of the ice on a regular basis, he said.

"It lets them know in lots of time that they're coming to an ice area and to cross at their own risk."

Roy said they don't want to tell people when they can go on the ice, but does want to tell them when they can't go because it's not safe.

"That's the biggest thing is to play safe while you're out there."

Miramichi Police Force Sgt. Ed Arbeau said they are warning people the ice isn't safe and they have received several calls about people walking on it, despite several places where there is open water.

"It's getting that time of year the river will be open anytime."

People shouldn't be surprised by the changing ice conditions because it happens every year when the weather gets warmer, he said.

"It can change within a few hours."

Arbeu said he has seen three calls of kids on the ice in the last few weeks and stressed it's not safe for people to be out on there.

"We don't want to see anybody get hurt. The ice is only going to deteriorate. It's not going to freeze in again."

Off-road vehicle enforcement division Supt. Dan Pugh said he lives by the water and has started to see cracks in the ice.

"They should be off there by now because there's some fault lines, for sure that are starting to develop."

Pugh said he could not comment further because the Public Safety Department, which oversees the off-road vehicle enforcement officers, did not want to speak to the issue because of the death in Bathurst.

Public Safety spokesperson Lisa Harrity confirmed they did not want to comment about the safety of snowmobiling on the ice because of the recent death and out of sensitivity to the woman's family.

"They just lost a family member and we don't want to come off as being preachy or anything like that. You know, we need to be sensitive to the fact this person is still missing, I think."