Weyburn's city engineer warned snowmobilers, ice fishermen and skaters that individuals are responsible for ensuring their own safety on ice covering the Souris River, Nickle Lake and other area bodies of water.

"Our position is that ice is never safe," said Bob Kinash on Monday. Ice that will carry the weight of a car one day will not carry it the next, he said. "Any time you go on the ice, you run the risk of breaking through."

The city warned residents last week to use caution when going on the ice, advising people it does not check the condition of the ice on the river or Nickle Lake and has no capacity to rescue people who have fallen through.

The city's warning included a suggestion that individuals drill test holes at intervals as they cross the ice.

Ice conditions are particularly treacherous this year because of relatively warm weather so far this winter, according to media spokesperson Gretel Rachor of the Canadian Lifesaving Society in Regina.

"With this warmer than average weather, the ice is more fragile and dangerous than normal. Every time the ice freezes, thaws and refreezes, it gets weaker," she said Friday.

The society reports 16 of 100 Canadians who have drowned in the past five years have done so while undergoing land or ice crossings and five per cent of drownings have occurred in November.

The Weyburn fire department has no water rescue equipment of its own. The department would rely on the provincial RCMP dive team, led by Corporal Art Hopkins of Weyburn, if an emergency occurred. Kinash said he doesn't remember anyone drowning in the Souris River in the past 25 years, partly because of the low water level.