Three men had to be rescued Thursday night from Upper Red Lake in northern Minnesota after their ATV and trailer crashed through the ice.
Two of the three men fell in the water but were able to get back on top of the ice according the the Beltrami County Sheriff's Office.
Beltrami County emergency management director Chris Muller says people are used to Upper Red Lake having enough ice to be on this time of the year.
"Normally this time of year it's fairly solid and has some pretty good ice, but the absolutely warm weather this winter, so far, combined with the windy conditions has really created some hazardous ice," explains Muller.
Thursday night's rescue comes after crews pulled nearly 50 people from Upper Red Lake on Sunday night when they became stranded on ice that had broken away. Officials are urging extra caution as ice remains unsafe across the state due to the unseasonably warm weather.
"Be aware of where you are at on the lake," Muller warns. "The resorts up there typically do a really good job of indicating where they go out and check on the ice is what they consider safe," Muller says. "We have to remember ice is never 100% safe. But they have a pretty good idea of what the ice thickness is, and just know where you are traversing when you're out on the ice."
According to the Minnesota DNR, four inches of clear, newly-formed ice may support one person on foot. Muller says unsafe ice puts everyone, including first responders, in danger.
"Most of them, our volunteers especially on the north end of our county, they leave their homes, they get up in the middle of the night, they go out and they perform these ice rescues and they've been very busy," says Muller. "We want them to always be safe and if we can prevent having to do an ice rescue? Is a fish really worth it?"
Along with people falling through the ice this week, a plane broke through the ice after landing on Upper Red Lake Tuesday morning. The Cessna 172 Sky Hawk departed from Grand Rapids and flew to the lake for fishing. The Beltrami County Sheriff's Office said the pilot had difficulty stopping during landing due to the lack of snow.
The plane slid into thin ice and the nose broke into open water. Both people on the plane were uninjured.