The weather has taken a mild turn and that brings more warnings from emergency officials.
"Stay off of the ice," said Barrie Firefighter Jason Syckel. "You don't know what kind of ice conditions are out there because we've had some very up and down weather. It's been very mild."
Firefighters were at the Tiffin Boat Launch Thursday afternoon to test ice rescue equipment for Winterfest.
It was an opportunity for Syckel to outline the 1-10-1 rule for cold water emersion that firefighters follow and try to educate the public about.
"The one is one minute of cold reflex shock," explains Syckel. "When you fall into that cold water, your body is going to to start gasping. You're going to start hyperventilating and if you don't have a life jacket or a pfd on, just that cold shock can paralyze you momentarily enough where you can go underwater."
And if you swallow enough water you can drown which highlights the importance of wearing a life jacket and/or a floatation suit if you're going out on any kind of ice.
"If you can get through that initial minute then you have ten minutes where you can self-rescue yourself before your meaningful movement starts to disintegrate and disappear," says Syckel. "You'll start to lose movement in your arms your legs hands fingers and toes."
Again, the best option he says is always have a flotation suite, pfd, and ice picks that you can plunge into the ice to pull yourself out of the water.
"When you're in the water you lose your body heat 25 times faster than if you're out of the water even in windy and cold conditions," said Syckel. "You're better to be outside the water."
The water will freeze and actually act as a thermal barrier, under the right conditions and depending on the conditions.
The last 'one' of 1-10-1 rule is one hour.
"If you are in the water and you have a flotation device with you or a PFD then you can last an hour without becoming unconscious due to hypothermia," according to Syckel. "So you have about one hour of survivability if you're out on the water," said Syckel.
"If you don't have a flotation device or a floater suit or a survival suit then that one hour backs right now to essentially one minute and you can drown in the gasping reflex stage of the one ten in one."
Firefighters Rob Smith and Eric Webster suited up Thursday to take the Rapid Deployment Craft out on the ice and Captain Eric Macfadden put me in a yellow flotation suit to tag along.
The suit, which was gigantic on me, is entirely one piece including black rubber boots and blue rubber gloves.
A personal flotation device is worn on top and a yellow helmet completes the gear.
Smith used an axe to chop a hole in the ice at Kempenfelt Bay which looked to be about four inches thick.
Both firefighters slipped into the icy water to show how their flotation suits immediately inflate.
Next it was my turn, first dangling my oversize black rubber boots in the water then slipping in.
Within seconds I felt like the Michelin Man as my suit ballooned to keep me safe - and surprisingly warm and oblivious to the frigid temps.
We returned to shore with a large chunk of ice that makes it appear Lake Simcoe may be safe.
Firefighters say it's not.
