A man who was ice fishing and became stranded overnight survived thanks to disaster preparedness. The Wood Buffalo RCMP was contacted early in the evening on Wednesday after a 38 year old man from Fort MacMurray never returned from an ice fishing trip. The trip was supposed to take place along the La Loche winter road, at a remote lake that is off the beaten path. The man became stranded when his side by side would not run. The RCMP used snowmobiles, search and rescue volunteers, and police officers to search the area where they thought the missing man would be. They finally located the missing individual around 4 a.m. The disaster preparedness that the man had used was invaluable, and it helped him survive until the search and rescue team found him.
According to the police reports the man stranded while ice fishing survived by using disaster preparedness training. Apparently the man set up some type of shelter in order to provide protection from exposure to the elements and knew enough to survive during the coldest part of the night. According to Cst. Ashley Quallie. Quallie “He had no medical injuries and did not require a trip to the hospital. He was prepared in case a situation like this happened, which is something we like to see members of the public do when they go out.” If the man had been less prepared then things could have turned out much differently when the vehicle would not run and the individual found himself stranded in a remote part of the region.