GREEN BAY — Eight people were safely rescued from a sheet of ice in Green Bay Sunday that had floated about a mile and a half away from shore.

The Little River Fire Department and Oconto Fire and Rescue Department were notified about 6:45 p.m. Sunday of multiple people stranded on the Bay of Green Bay.

The incident happened in Oconto County on the west side of Green Bay, roughly across from Sturgeon Bay.

Emergency personnel arrived and found eight people stranded on a large section of ice. Rescue crews were able to rescue one person from the ice using a small flat bottomed boat before the ice moved too far away to get the boat to the other people.

Additional rescue crews gathered at the North Bay Shore County Park in the Town of Little River and the US Coast Guard was contacted along with the Marinette Fire Department and Bayside Ice & Marine Recovery for Air Boats.

The incident occurred just off shore, but by the time air boats were able to reach them, they were approximately 1.5 miles out, according to a news release from the Little River Fire Department.

All eight people were brought safely to shore by rescue personnel and the Bayside Ice & Marine Recovery Air Boat.

Little River Fire responded with an Engine, Ladder, Rescue Boat and Utility Truck. Oconto Fire & Rescue responded with an Engine, Rescue Boat, Rescue Truck, Rescue Humvee, Command Truck and two Ambulances.

The Oconto Fire & Rescue Department, Oconto County Sheriff’s Department, Oconto County Emergency Management, Marinette Fire Department, and Bayside Ice & Marine Recovery assisted.



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By Dan Plutchak

Editor and publisher of the Door County Shore Report