Thin ice sends pickup into Lake Winnipesaukee near Varney Point

GILFORD — A pickup truck went through the ice on Lake Winnipesaukee off Varney Point on Friday night. In that area, the water is about 50 feet deep, and state leaders said on Tuesday the owner has been attempting themselves to recover the vehicle.

New Hampshire Fish and Game Conservation Officer Chris Bryson said the owner of a Honda Ridgeline contacted Fish and Game at 6 p.m. on Saturday, to notify them about a vehicle partially submerged. Everyone was safe and out of the vehicle.

Bryson provided the owner with phone numbers of organizations to help remove the truck.

Jim Martin, public information officer for the NH Department of Environmental Services, said DES Spill Response and Complaint Investigation was notified on Sunday night about the truck being partially submerged.

Martin said that on Monday, a local recovery contractor visited the location and deployed a submersible drone. The contractor reported ice conditions were too unstable to risk recovery, and they would need to wait until conditions improved. Martin said it was likely the vehicle would be there until ice-out, and a diving crew could safely go down and attach bags to the truck to raise it to the surface. It would then be towed to the ramp to be removed.

The contractor onsite said there was no significant sheen or petroleum products to note. Martin said the owner of the truck will not receive a fine.

“In a case like this, where safety is the paramount concern, as long as the owner is taking necessary steps to cooperate, we don’t typically add a fine onto the situation,” Martin said.

He noted the owner is financially responsible for hiring a contractor to remove the vehicle, and with the truck totaled, they are likely facing substantial costs already.

On Tuesday afternoon, Bryson said there were attempts being made to chainsaw a line to the hole, put a cable through the ice, and drag it to shore. This, he said, was not something he would recommend, and he considered a “high risk mission.” He said Fish and Game was not involved in this recovery attempt.

“They have an outfit out there now, to try to drag it to shore with a cable, to a residence about 1,500 feet away,” Bryson said.

Bryson said the vehicle owner is an angler who had the truck on the ice. He wouldn’t recommend for machines being out on the ice in these conditions. With the warm spell and recent rain, any ice fishing hole or shanty that hasn’t moved in a long time can create thin ice. Even before the recent rain, he said ice thickness in the area was about 8 inches.

“If a truck pokes a hole with its wheel, the whole thing will go in,” Bryson said. “Inertia and weight are not your friend with thin ice.”

Bryson said the ice thickness has lessened in recent days, and driving on the ice is not recommended.