WILMINGTON - It seemed like quite a risk just to get a fresh fish.

The ice fisherman who was spotted by a Sun photographer hundreds of feet out on the ice of Silver Lake in Wilmington Wednesday belonged to a minority group of one, as local fire and police officials may be happy to hear.

Determining the strength of ice is extremely tricky, especially for those untrained, Tewksbury Deputy Fire Chief Albert Vasas cautioned. Better not to risk it at all, he said.

"We haven't had an incident in a long time," Vasas said. "And we certainly don't want one to have one any time, especially not today, and not this weekend."

To freeze to the right thickness, the temperature must be well below freezing, 32 degrees, for weeks - and that hasn't been the case so far this season.

"We have Silver lake, but there are ponds all over town, and I can say definitely the ice is not safe on any of them," said Vasas. "It's been really warm for this time of year."

With area temperatures dipping below freezing at night, but rising to daytime highs in the upper 40 degrees as the weekend approached, ice conditions were only expected to worsen in Greater Lowell. On Monday, the daytime high temperature is forecasted to reach 55 degrees, Vasas noted.

Ice strength is affected by the depth of the water, the size of the water body, the water's chemistry, the distribution of weight on the ice and local climate. Police and fire departments warn people to stay off new, clear ice that is 3 inches thick or less.


To remind people of the dangers, warning signs are often posted along the perimeter of lakes and ponds.

Even when a sheet of ice appears to be thick, it is difficult to be certain.

"There's always an ever-present danger with ice and you never know how thick it is unless you drill into it," said Lowell Deputy Fire Chief Michael Cushing.

Cushing agreed with Vasas that any ice in the area right now isn't thick enough to walk across.

"Personally, I wouldn't trust any ice to be that solid unless we had a weeklong sub-zero freeze or something like that. Even then, you're taking a chance," he added.

Cushing said with the recent weather patterns of "on-again, off-again" above-freezing temperatures, nothing will freeze solidly.

Typically, animal rescues are the first sign that the ice is still too thin, safety officials say. A deer that was rescued after being stranded on thin ice on Stony Brook Basin in Waltham last Friday had to be put down because it was not healthy enough to be released back into the wild.

Cushing gave some tips if someone did end up falling in cold water:

Don't panic.

Cling to the edge of the ice; if it's thick enough and you're strong enough, you can boost yourself up.

Lay flat as possible to distribute your body weight and crawl like a reptile back to safety.

He said if you hear the ice cracking or feel as though it may break, the best advice is to lay flat and crawl back to shore.

Cushing said the Lowell Fire Department has a piece of equipment that is used when conducting ice rescues. Two pontoons glide along the ice and the rescuer walks in the middle. When the ice breaks, the rescuer paddles out on the pontoon.

Luckily, there hasn't been a need to use that piece of equipment yet this winter, and Cushing hopes it stays that way.

"The best advice is to stay off the ice," he said.

Sun staff writer Sarah Favot contributed to this report.

Follow John Collins on Twitter @ johncolowellsun.