Nova Scotia Forest Fires

[TLS Guy]

I just heard of a warm weather incident from one of my friends up in lake country, MN. He is on Kabekona Lake next to Benedict.

There has been next to no ice fishing season this year and a lot of rescues. Normally the DNR orders ice house off the Northern lakes in mid March. This year they ordered them off two weeks or more ago.

An owner of a fish house on Walker Bay Leech lake was tardy. Leech lake is a huge lake and most of it relatively shallow as it was created by the Federal dam on the Leech River to provide a reservoir for the Twin Cities and barge traffic. The first dam was built between 1882 and 1884.

There is one very deep part however, which covers most of Walker Bay. The deepest part is right opposite the lighthouse off the park in Walker MN. Depth there is 130ft.

Anyhow, this owner was pulling his ice house off Leech Lake with an expensive late model truck. Right at the deepest part, his truck started to go though the ice. He got out, and the truck hung up for a while. While he went for help his truck and ice house went through the ice to the bottom of Leech lake 130ft. down.

The vehicle and ice house have to be recovered at his expense. He can not leave these items on the bottom. This recovery will likely cost him thousands of dollars and quite possibly break him financially, unless he is very wealthy.

 

[lovinthehd]

Hey thanks, nice to know a location when members note a " location".

I wish that were part of the info shown for each member under our avatars....where are you?

 

[TLS Guy]

I wish that were part of the info shown for each member under our avatars....where are you?

I agree. We waste a lot of time when people live outside the US. Standards vary from country to country.

 

[cpp]

I wish that were part of the info shown for each member under our avatars....where are you?

Ormond Beach Fla

 

[Eppie]

My friend outside of Barrie, Ontario, regularly ice-fishes on lake Simcoe (similar latitude to Minneapolis). His wife refused to let him take his hut and pickup truck out on the lake this year for fear of the ice being too thin. Funny coincidence that I just watched a show on the recovery of a Jeep and trailer from below the ice. That was a winter recovery with the ice still supporting vehicles. Six man crew, scuba divers, skid steer, recovery equipment.... yeah, the cost could add up fast. Big factor would be the 130 ft depth of that lake. That's a long way for a diver to go down. It would likely be a spring operation from a barge but still pretty expensive. Plus the loss of the vehicle. I don't think car insurance covers those situations.

 

[TLS Guy]

My friend outside of Barrie, Ontario, regularly ice-fishes on lake Simcoe (similar latitude to Minneapolis). His wife refused to let him take his hut and pickup truck out on the lake this year for fear of the ice being too thin. Funny coincidence that I just watched a show on the recovery of a Jeep and trailer from below the ice. That was a winter recovery with the ice still supporting vehicles. Six man crew, scuba divers, skid steer, recovery equipment.... yeah, the cost could add up fast. Big factor would be the 130 ft depth of that lake. That's a long way for a diver to go down. It would likely be a spring operation from a barge but still pretty expensive. Plus the loss of the vehicle. I don't think car insurance covers those situations.

That is a long way from shore. A skid steer will be no help. Leech lake only has one major town and that is Walker and that is not very big. Most of the lake is Indian reservation. Only a small amount from North of Walker and not reaching Shakopee quite, is off the res.

You won't get a crane barge anywhere near it.

The only way I can see it being recovered is wit divers using chains and inflatable balloons and a re large compressor to inflate them.

Kabekona lake is close by. It is very deep and used for diver training.

 

[Mr._Clark]

. . . That's a long way for a diver to go down. . . . I don't think car insurance covers those situations.

I noticed that my car insurance policy explicitly excludes damage incurred during demolition derbies. I have to believe that was added by the insurance company after someone tried to make a claim for damage caused by a demolition derby.

 

[Eppie]

That is a long way from shore. A skid steer will be no help. Leech lake only has one major town and that is Walker and that is not very big. Most of the lake is Indian reservation. Only a small amount from North of Walker and not reaching Shakopee quite, is off the res.

You won't get a crane barge anywhere near it.

The only way I can see it being recovered is wit divers using chains and inflatable balloons and a re large compressor to inflate them.

Kabekona lake is close by. It is very deep and used for diver training.

The crew I watched drilled test holes to make sure the ice was thick enough to operate on. Then cut through the ice with chainsaws to create an opening to pull the truck and trailer through. They were lucky that the water was not too deep in that spot. They had a long metal girder that acted as a teeter-totter. They immersed the girder with one end resting on the lake bottom in front of the truck and the mid point resting on the ice. They winched the truck up along it and when the truck broke the surface the girder pivoted and fell horizontal. Simple and effective. Strictly a shallow water solution though.

The Leech Lake system looks to be close to the same size as Lake Simcoe. Barrie Ontario has a population of 165,000 but I have only seen pleasure craft in the harbour. Lots of expensive cottages (more like estates) along the shore as it's only 2 hours north of Toronto.

I agree, that salvage operation will likely use flotation devices at that depth. No idea what the cost would be. Hopefully in the thousands and not the tens of thousands.

 

[GO-NAD!]

 

[highfigh]

I just heard of a warm weather incident from one of my friends up in lake country, MN. He is on Kabekona Lake next to Benedict.

There has been next to no ice fishing season this year and a lot of rescues. Normally the DNR orders ice house off the Northern lakes in mid March. This year they ordered them off two weeks or more ago.

An owner of a fish house on Walker Bay Leech lake was tardy. Leech lake is a huge lake and most of it relatively shallow as it was created by the Federal dam on the Leech River to provide a reservoir for the Twin Cities and barge traffic. The first dam was built between 1882 and 1884.

There is one very deep part however, which covers most of Walker Bay. The deepest part is right opposite the lighthouse off the park in Walker MN. Depth there is 130ft.

Anyhow, this owner was pulling his ice house off Leech Lake with an expensive late model truck. Right at the deepest part, his truck started to go though the ice. He got out, and the truck hung up for a while. While he went for help his truck and ice house went through the ice to the bottom of Leech lake 130ft. down.

The vehicle and ice house have to be recovered at his expense. He can not leave these items on the bottom. This recovery will likely cost him thousands of dollars and quite possibly break him financially, unless he is very wealthy.

Every year, someone does that in Wisconsin lakes and every year, they say that they just wanted to get one more day of fishing. Absolutely stupid- they seem to think their vehicle and shanty are weightless.

I don't ice fish so I don't know for sure, but I think insurance may cover part of it. Great for him if it does, but I don't want that kind of claim to affect anyone elses' rates. It's bad enough that we'll be hosed by all of the moronic 'Kia Boyz' carjacking/theft crap but IMO, the insurance industry needs to change their whole model.