Experts warn frozen river tempting, but deadly dangerous

It may look like fun, but police are urging residents not to walk on the frozen Allegheny River and ice jam in Freeport.

Freeport officials are concerned about the safety of residents, particularly children and young adults, who apparently are drawn to the cracked sheets of jagged ice piled up like a boulder field on the frozen Allegheny River in Freeport.

The second coldest February on record in the Pittsburgh area has created a frozen but dangerous wonderland on the Allegheny River that has attracted visitors:

• Police say William McManus, 25, of Pittsburgh, a suspect in a smash-and-grab burglary at a Downtown convenience store last month, slid down a bank to the frozen Allegheny River and ran across to the North Shore where police nabbed him.

• Sharpsburg police and the Allegheny County Swift Water Response Team had to coax to shore two teenagers playing hockey on the frozen Allegheny River in Sharpsburg at the James Sharp Landing several weeks ago.

“The kids got off the ice without incident,” said police Chief Leo Rudzki.

“I understand the allure of a frozen pond to play hockey on, but when you start going out on ice on river, it's different because there's still a current going,” said Alvin Henderson, chief of the Allegheny County Department of Emergency Services. “If, God forbid, you hit a thin spot and fall through, the chance for survival is very minimal.”

Henderson said the difference between a pond and river is that in a pond, you're likely to pop back up through the hole where you fill in. In a river, the current sweeps you farther under.

• Last week, Freeport Mayor Swartz spotted two kids on the ice about a quarter of the way across the river. They came safely to shore after Swartz called out to them. Then a Valley News Dispatch photographer snapped a photo Monday of a 6-year-old Freeport boy frolicking in the ice jam.

“It's a very dangerous situation,” said Freeport Mayor Jim Swartz, who has heard other stories about people venturing onto the frozen river this year.

The ice jam stretches from the mouth of the Kiski River to Freeport where the ice continues farther downstream past the River Forest housing development in Allegheny Township, according to Freeport officials and the Army Corps of Engineers.

Freeport police are instructed to call to shore anyone that they see on the river.

“Don't go on the ice or you will end up in the river,” Swartz said “And it's going to be hard to rescue you.”

Although the Allegheny County Swift Water Response Team and other emergency response teams undergo training for rescue in icy water and have special equipment, odds are bleak for saving the life of someone who breaks through river ice.

“It is impossible to be safe on the river ice,” said George McBriar, coordinator of the Allegheny County Swift Water Response Team and chief of the Blawnox Volunteer Fire Company.

Beneath the ice, the river is flowing. River ice varies greatly in thickness from a couple of inches to a foot, and the surface won't look any different.

“If someone falls through the ice, the undercurrents will take them under,” McBriar said. “And it would be extremely difficult to rescue anyone swept under the ice. There is no air under there.

“Chances are you will not survive unless you can secure yourself above the ice somehow,” he said.

Daniel Felack Sr., a marine officer with the Lower Kiski Emergency Services, said, “If you see anyone fall in the ice or stuck out there, call 911 as soon as possible because it will take us time to assemble trained personnel and special equipment.”

Mary Ann Thomas is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 724-226-4691 or mthomas@tribweb.com.