A planned ice fishing outing on Greenwood Lake almost ended tragically for four ice fishermen on Sunday, Feb. 24 when the group’s snowmobiles became mired in deep slush during a winter storm with high winds.
The anglers, Randall Bush, age 50, Cotton, Minn.; Tamara Grandlund, age 51, Superior, Wis.; Kevin Steichen, age 54, St. Cloud, Minn.; and Thomas Hudacek, 49, Maple, Wis., were staying at a friend’s cabin on Greenwood Lake. Sue Hadacek, of Maple, Wis. was also with the group but remained behind at the cabin when the other four went fishing.
Unable to get a local cellular signal, the group was able to pick up a Canadian cell signal and contact Canadian authorities and call for help. Cook County Law enforcement was notified by Ontario Provincial Police at about 3 p.m. on Sunday and told about the desperate plight of the anglers, but the men had been unable to identify just where they were on the lake.
Responding to the call were Cook County deputies, Search & Rescue, Gunflint Trail Fire Department/EMS, Cook County North Shore Health ambulance and USFS law enforcement.
During the search, the Sheriff ’s Office snowmobiles became stuck in the slush that was reportedly 14 inches deep in some spots. Incident Command then used long-track snowmobiles, and responders donned snowshoes to go in search of the men, battling winds that gusted to 50 mph and limited their visibility.
Valerie Marasco, director of the Office of Emergency Management & Public Information, said that United States Forest Service officer Ed Belmore and Search and Rescue (SAR) volunteer Forrest Parsons were able to locate two of the stranded snowmobilers and bring them to the cabin where the parties were staying.
Two of the individuals attempted to walk back to the residence, but due to horrible visibility they got turned around and were lost. “Trooper Aaron Schmidt was off duty and riding his personal snowmobile in the area and also helped,” said Marasco. “Schmidt was able to locate both of the parties that were walking and brought them back to the staging area.”
Almost three hours after the search began, at 5:50 p.m. Schmidt had found those two men about two miles in from the public landing off the Greenwood Lake Road and Fire Box Road.
One of the anglers exhibited advanced hypothermia, frostbite, and dehydration. Rescue workers, said Marasco, “were able to treat initial signs of hypothermia in (Randall) Bush, to stabilize his body temperature, heart rate, and vitals through warming wraps and heated fluids.”
The responders were able to stabilize Bush en route to the ambulance staging area. Al Berglund, a local plowing contractor, cleared the road for the ambulance. The man was transported to North Shore Health hospital for further treatment.
As for the health of the other three anglers, “consistent with hypothermia, the party was experiencing weakness in extremities, abnormal inability to walk on own, irregular vitals and disorientation,” stated Marasco.
Rescue crews left the scene at about 8 p.m.
Cook County Sheriff Pat Eliasen had high praise for those who responded to the emergency.
“We are fortunate to have dedicated emergency response units who risk their own lives going out in conditions like this to rescue strangers, along with our 911 professionals who manage these calls and responder safety from start to finish,” he said.
“We are grateful we were able to get these folks out alive and that all of the responders are going home safely tonight. I highly commend everyone who took part in this operation during extremely tough conditions today. We strongly recommend people heed weather warnings and conditions, let people know where you are going and how long you expect to be gone.”
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