“We’ve responded to five submerged vehicle calls so far this winter. That’s more than we usually have this time of the year, by far. There probably is more coming this winter,” said Maloney, owner of Maloney’s Towing & Recovery of Madelia.

He said freezing and thawing winter temperatures create lots of ice heaves on lakes that are bigger and more frequent with below zero degree temperatures and little or no snow cover to insulate ice. When temperatures change, ice changes in size. Ice may be pushed together forming a ridge, making it more difficult to see unsafe areas.

Maloney described how his company recovers a submerged vehicle.

“We use a chain saw to cut ice around the vehicle, send divers in to hook up cables on the vehicle and pull it out with winches on a flat-bottom, pontoon recovery unit,” Maloney said.

Photo courtesy of Maloney’s Towing & Recovery A fully-submerged pickup truck was recovered from a lake near Isanti several years ago by Maloney’s Towing & Recovery of Madelia using a flat-bottom, pontoon recovery system. Ice is cut with a chain saw and divers hook up submerged vehicles to winch-powered cables.

“We pulled out a submerged side by side in Lake Hanska. Everybody got out of the vehicle before it sank. We other submerged vehicles on Big Twin Lake near Sherburn, a big SUV in a Freeborn County lake near Albert Lea and a pickup truck in Lake Washington near Mankato.

“There can be many dangerous areas on lakes. Some people think they know the lake because they’ve driven on it for many years, but ice depth can be hard to gauge. It can be 12 inches on your right and a couple inches on your left. We tell people to drill test holes on lakes and ensure they have proper full insurance coverage before driving on lakes. Insurance will cover recovery one time. People without that insurance may have to pay recovery costs for years. We’ve pulled just about everything out of frozen lakes including fish houses. One of my guys fell through the ice and was up to his armpits in freezing water. He was wearing diving gear,” said Maloney.

Maloney said his company responds to recovery calls in Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin.

Rader’s Towing owner Dean Rader of New Ulm said he’d respond to a vehicle ice recovery call only if somebody was stuck on top of the ice or was only slightly submerged.

“I don’t like walking on ice, much less driving on it,” said Rader.

Setting up and taking down equipment to recover a submerged vehicle can take hours and can cost more than $1,000 an hour.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources reminds the public that ice is never 100% safe. Recommended minimum ice thickness on new, clear ice is 20 or more inches for heavy duty trucks pulling wheelhouse shelters, 13-17 inches for a pickup truck, nine to 12 inches for a car, seven to eight inches for a side by side ATV, five to seven inches for a snowmobile, four inches for walking. Keep off the ice is its’ less than four inches thick.

For more information, visit www.dnr.state.mn.us/waters/watermgmt_section/