A cross country skier is very lucky to be alive after being rescued from a frozen lake with an incredible new piece of technology.

Just two hours after the St. Paul firefighting team were trained in ice rescue, they received a call about a person who had fallen into the waters of McCarrons Lake in Roseville, Minnesota.

“The new firefighter who actually went in the water to effect the rescue said the training that day was the first time he had been in the water with the ice rescue suit doing those maneuvers,” said Tom McDonough, St. Paul deputy fire chief of training.

Firefighters are better equipped for rescues like this one because of ARM-LOC, which is an inflatable sleeve that attaches to a drowning victim’s arm and allows rescuers to pull them to safety.

The device was invented by Connie Sylvester and her family in Duluth, Minnesota, who did so after they saw a story about a woman on television who was unable to be saved from icy waters because her hands were too cold to grip the rescue rope.

The ARM-LOC is amazing because it allows someone to be pulled to safety without them having to hold anything. The way the device works is that it  goes around the victim’s forearm in a way that makes it so that they only have to pull the ring for the sleeve to inflate and create a tight hold around the arm.

We’re glad that this latest ARM-LOC rescue in Minnesota was such a resounding success!