Forest rangers with the state Department of Environmental Conservation helped rescue two people in the Adirondack Park in recent weeks: an older man on a frozen lake and a younger man in the snowy High Peaks. Rangers also conducted several training sessions to help them rescue more people in the future.

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LAKE PLACID — Seven forest rangers are helping ensure the public’s safety during the FISU Winter World University Games, an 11-day competition and celebration of international university sports and culture. More than 1,400 student athletes from more than 50 countries are competing in 12 different sports.

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CRANBERRY LAKE — On Jan. 12, forest rangers conducted flat-ice rescue training at DEC’s Cranberry Lake Complex in St. Lawrence County.

Participants, including nine recent academy graduates, completed classroom and field training. Classroom instruction included pre-planning, response and coordination of flat-ice rescue incidents. The field portion of the training highlighted self-rescue techniques along with reach, throw and go responses. The DEC Region 6 airboat was deployed to provide operators and crew with additional training to deliver personnel to the scene and safely transition victims from the water to the deck of the airboat.

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QUEENSBURY — On Jan. 10 at 10:15 a.m., forest rangers overheard radio traffic about an ice rescue on Glen Lake in Queensbury. Rangers Evan Donegan, Charles Kabrehl and Logan Quinn responded, along with multiple fire departments including Bay Ridge, Bolton, Lake George, North Queensbury and Queensbury.

Rangers helped get the 74-year-old from Queensbury out of the water to a waiting ambulance. The subject was taken to Glens Falls Hospital. If he were not wearing a personal floatation device, the outcome may have been much different. Resources were clear at 11:28 a.m.

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KEENE VALLEY — On Jan. 2 at 2:15 p.m., Ray Brook dispatch requested forest ranger assistance with a hiker who collapsed in the snow on Johns Brook Trail. The original call indicated the 22-year-old from Ellenburg Depot was three-quarters of a mile in on the trail.

At 4:30 p.m., rangers found the subject and the caller 2.5 miles in on the trail in hazardous conditions. Rangers used backpack carriers and reached the Garden trailhead at 9:25 p.m., where they were met by a Keene Valley ambulance. The hiker was taken to Elizabethtown Community Hospital for further medical care. Volunteers from the Keene Valley Volunteer Fire Department’s Backcountry Rescue Team assisted with the carryout.

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LONG LAKE — On Dec. 22, Forest Ranger Melissa Milano led flat-ice rescue training for 15 rangers on Long Lake. Rangers spent hours practicing and demonstrating rescue skills to better respond and manage incidents when subjects fall through the ice.