OTTAWA COUNTY, OH (Toledo News Now) -
Officials in Ottawa County
said ice rescues can be risky – and expensive – but they said they'd rather be
safe than sorry. This was the case over the weekend when a 911 call sparked a
pricey, all-out manhunt.
Rescue crews were called
to Sand Beach Drive in Carroll Township on Sunday, when local bird watchers
thought they saw a man standing on the ice in Lake Erie. A minute later, they
said he was gone.
"At that time, the
officers called out the resources that are available to us," said Chief Jody
Hatfield of the Carroll Township Police Department.
After three hours of
searching the icy water, crews found no one.
The total cost of the
rescue attempt is not yet determined, but the police department said it spent
thousands.
"I say $10,000," Hatfield
said. "Is it more? Could be. It's something that I'd rather err on the side of
precaution if somebody was out there, to use the resources and to spend that
money, even if there is a tight budget everywhere now."
To help cover that cost,
Ottawa County used to have a policy of charging people who needed rescuing more
than three times, but that policy is no longer in effect.
"The biggest reason [we
did away with that policy] is because of the fact that it's not my place to say
what they should pay for their rescue," explained Ottawa County Sheriff Steve
Levorchick. "So many different entities are involved in a rescue."
Many of the rescue workers
were volunteers, with the exception of on-duty sheriff's deputies and the Coast
Guard. Sheriff Levorchick said the community is grateful for people willing to
give their time.
"I don't ever want to detract from what the volunteer firefighters do in our
area," he said. "They're the ones that go on the ice, and they don't get
recognition for that."
Authorities have requested
that anyone who may have been on the ice Sunday morning call them to let officials
know they're safe.
Related: Water
rescue called off in Ottawa County
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Rescue crews often use a hovercraft like this to go out on the ice.
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