WINNIPEG -- Freezing temperatures are prompting the annual warning – stay off thin ice.
Winnipeg first responders are reminding residents to use extreme caution around the city's waterways, including drainage ditches, culverts, streams, creeks, retention ponds, and rivers.
The city said ice surfaces are thin and fragile, and falling into ice-cold water can be deadly.
"Ice is starting to form on the surface of all bodies of water and the ice thickness is completely unpredictable at this time of year," said Mark Reshaur, assistant chief of the WFPS, in a news release. "All residents should stay away from these surfaces and their banks."
The city is asking parents and teachers to speak to children and students about the dangers of waterways.
"Ice is starting to form on the surface of all bodies of water and the ice thickness is completely unpredictable at this time of year," said Reshaur in the release. "All residents should stay away from these surfaces and their banks."
The WFPS said it responds to approximately 200 water and ice safety calls a year.
"Staying away from the riverbanks, and off of any thin ice, is the only way to prevent the dire consequences of falling through," said Patrol Sergeant Jason English, river patrol supervisor for the Winnipeg Police Service.
The public is also being reminded that while "Danger - Thin Ice" signs are put up at potentially dangerous areas, all ice should be considered unsafe despite a sign or not.
