Man in hospital after falling onto frozen Whitemud Creek ice in southwest Edmonton

A man was taken to hospital in serious but stable condition Friday afternoon, after falling down an embankment in southwest Edmonton and ending up on the ice of Whitemud Creek.

Edmonton Fire Rescue Services district chief Pat Fleet said a man in his 60s took the tumble.

“Fire crews were led by two girls that found him,” he said, adding the girls who discovered the injured man then found some other people had a phone, and called 911.

EFRS said it was called just after 2 p.m. to rescue the man on the ice in the Mactaggart Sanctuary.

Five units were dispatched to the parking lot just off 23 Avenue and 119 Street, with the first unit arriving on scene at 2:19 p.m.

Crews walked down the frozen creek with their rescue supplies to bring the man out safely, rather than try to carry him back up the steep embankment.

Fleet wasn’t sure if the man experienced a medical episode before or after falling but said when crews rescued him, he was in serious condition.

“We pulled the patient up onto one of our river rescue boats and slid him along the ice up to the bridge at Smith Crossing,” Fleet said.

The man was transported to hospital.

Fleet noted with our unusually warm daytime temperatures right now, all ice is unstable and should be avoided.

“The weather’s too unpredictable. The ice is too unpredictable — just stay off it.”