As winter creeps up, lakes and ponds are beginning to ice over.  However, it will be a while yet before the ice is thick enough to walk on.

Captain Ryan Morasch of the High River Fire Department says ice that forms by early December looks desceptively thick, but is very fragile and makes it easy to fall in.

"The thicknesses that we'd like to see is no less than 6 inches of ice before people start walking or skating on ice.  The Town of High River does monitor ice conditions throughout a number of storm retention ponds within the town limits, and they have that information for residents."

The Town of High River will be monitoring ice on Highwood Lake, Emerson Lake, Sunshine Lake, the Montrose storm retention ponds, and Stang Pond.  They will have signs up, marking thin ice by the end of this week. 

Morasch asks parents to be pro-active about ice safety and tell their children not to walk across ponds or lakes until given permission.  He also mentions that things are only considered safe when the thin ice signs come down.

Soon the fire department will be preparing for cold water rescues as well.

"We'll be looking to start our training for those cold water emergencies towards the beginning of December.  The ice does start to form towards the end of November, beginning of December.  It's the most dangerous at that time, because it is so thin."

 Morasch says the fire department's website highriverfire.ca also has great resources to educate people on safety.

"We have a section specific to ice safety.  It talks people through what to do if they fall through ice and what to do if they see someone who has fallen through the ice."