Several agencies participated in an ice rescue operation Saturday afternoon in the Bay of Green Bay, off Lime Kiln Road, in the Town of Gardner. The Brussels-Union-Gardner Fire Department was paged out at about 1:18PM and told that that four individuals from the Green Bay area, ages 50 to 60, were on an ice flow and couldn’t get to shore. The Southern Door and Sturgeon Bay fire departments were contacted, along with the US Coast Guard. The Sturgeon Bay fire firefighters launched their inflatable boat and traveled about a half a mile to the spot where the fishermen were stranded. The group and their equipment was transported to shore without incident. When the Sturgeon Bay crew was told more fishermen could be on the ice, they patrolled the water for some distance, but discontinued the search after realizing the report was unfounded. The fishermen said they had been on the ice Friday and it was solid then. However, while they were fishing Saturday, they heard a loud cracking noise and, before they could get organized, a large gap had opened. A unit of the coast guard brought its air boat, but they did not have to put it into operation. An aircraft was also in the area at the time the men were taken off the ice. The operation was wrapped up shortly before 3PM Saturday.
