By Jon King / jking@whmi.com


Firefighters rescued a local woman Thursday after she fell through thin ice on an area lake.

The Brighton Area Fire Authority says they received a call for a person through the ice on Big Crooked Lake just after 5:30pm. The victim, identified as a middle-age female from Genoa Township, was reportedly in the water approximately 75 feet from shore. Chief of Training Greg Mowbray says first arriving crews were on scene within five minutes. After crews dressed out in cold water rescue suits, two “water rescuers” made entry onto the partially frozen lake and were able to keep the woman afloat and secured to them while additional on-scene rescuers were able to extract all three using safety tethers.

Once the group was pulled to shore, the woman was moved to a waiting Livingston County EMS ambulance where care was continued by paramedics, who then transported her in stable condition to the University of Michigan hospital. The Brighton Area Fire Authority was assisted at the scene by the Livingston County Dive Team, Livingston County EMS and Livingston County Sheriff’s Office.

Mowbray says the main message from the incident is that the public needs to stay off the ice as it is not safe.