Thermal imaging helps Summerside firefighters save woman from ice

Summerside firefighters using special equipment helped rescue a woman from the ice in the city's harbour Monday night.

Fire Chief Ron Enman says his department got word shortly after 9 p.m. that calls for help were being heard from out on the frozen surface of the water.

Seven members of the department put on survival suits and were sent out to find the source of the cries, Enman said.

"The trouble was because of the low cloud cover and the fog, it was almost like finding a needle in a haystack," he said.

The decision was quickly made to set up a thermal-imaging camera at the end of the wharf, the fire chief said.

"We picked her up and they found her probably about 10, 12 minutes into the search," Enman said of the woman at the heart of the rescue effort.

He thinks she was nearly a kilometre from land at that point.

"She wasn't through the water, but she was [lying[ on the ice in a couple of inches of water," he said.

"She was soaked. She could have gone through before that — I can't really say."

The firefighters took her to shore, after strapping her into a specialized board that can be towed across icy surfaces like a sled, and Island EMS officials took over from there.

Enman said she was taken to hospital and is believed to be in stable condition. He wouldn't provide additional details about her situation, citing privacy concerns.