Sheriff’s office: 200 people evacuated off ice chunk on Upper Red Lake

First responders were called to Upper Red Lake Monday on a report of people fishing off of an ice chunk that broke free from shore, according to the Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office.

The sheriff’s office says it was first notified about the situation just after 11:30 a.m. and told that “an estimated 100 individuals” were stranded on the ice chunk.

The sheriff’s office advised that a temporary ice bridge was placed over open water at the JR’s Corner access point to help people get off the ice. First responders were then able to help dozens of people get off the ice chunk.

By 2:40 p.m., officials had determined that around 200 people had been evacuated from the ice and nobody was left on the ice chunk.

The sheriff’s office also used the incident to remind people that early ice is “very unpredictable” and extreme caution needs to be used when venturing out onto ice.

It comes a day after the Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office issued an ice safety reminder due to several calls of people falling through ice on lakes.