COLUMBIA, MO. -- Columbia firefighters are taking advantage of the recent extremely cold temperatures.

They are using the lake on Columbia’s Bass Pro property to practice ice water rescues.

During the recent subzero temperatures, the ice at Columbia’s Bass Pro Shop lake was about a foot thick.  That ice is slowly beginning to melt, but that’s not stopping firefighters like Tyler Beauchamp from practicing their ice water rescue skills.  Firefighters wear cold water exposure suits and pretend to rescue someone who has fallen through the ice.  Their state-of-the-art suits keep body heat in, and the cold sting of ice water out.

“You don’t get cold in it," Beauchamp said. "It has a lot of floatation to it so we don’t have to worry about the hazards of sinking. We don’t have to worry about the hazards of the temperatures as well. It keeps us very warm. It has a lot of thermal protection in it.”

Firefighters said you should ice skate in areas approved by authorities. Most city-owned skating areas display signs warning skaters if the ice is dangerous, however people skating on rural lakes and ponds take their chances every time they get on the ice.

Firefighters said their drills help prepare them for actually emergencies. They hope they don’t have to use their training. They wouldn’t have to if people would just stay off melting ice.

Columbia firefighters respond to about 10 ice water rescue calls each winter. Most of those calls involve animals falling through ice instead of people.

“You get a body of water, especially in a rural area that’s covered with snow you can’t see what’s underneath that snow," Columbia Fire Department Captain Eric Hartman said. "You can’t see how thick the ice is.  You can’t see if any there are any cracks or defects in the ice.  That’s how we find folks, unfortunately. They’ll walk out onto that ice and they’ll fall through. We end up in these ice rescue situations.”

Hartman said his firefighters don’t get the chance to do this type of training very often, but when they do, they put their lives on thin ice.

Fire officials want to remind everyone to never ice skate or ice fish alone and always have a rope, ladder or pole available in case of emergency.