Canfield Scouting event teaches 'gold rush' survival skills

CANFIELD

During this time of year, cold weather has usually made its presence felt in the Mahoning Valley, to the delight of ice skaters and others brave enough to venture out onto an ice-covered lake or pond.

But temperature fluctuations during the winter can lead to a false sense of security and real danger – especially for those on thin ice who overestimated its strength. The result can be perilous for anyone who falls through, so it’s vital to know how to perform a water rescue.

That’s a potentially life-saving skill Mark Filicky is grateful to have learned.

“It felt kind of scary, especially on the tarp. But I know first aid, so I trusted them to carry me and help give me first aid,” the 16-year-old Boardman High School student explained, referring to having played the victim in a simulated rescue.

Mark, who’s also part of Boardman-based Boy Scout Troop 60, saw his endurance put to the test during his participation in “Ice Accident,” which focused primarily on applying first aid. It also was one of eight or nine stations that made up Saturday’s 2019 Boy Scout Klondike Derby at Camp Stambaugh, 3712 Leffingwell Road.

Hosting the all-day gathering was the Whispering Pines District of the Great Trail Council, Boy Scouts of America. The event was themed “1919 Back to the Beginning” to recreate a Klondike gold rush dating to that year, which is when Camp Stambaugh was established, organizers said.

The Scouts had to earn “gold nuggets” and test their abilities at events such as fire building and cooking, knot tying, wilderness survival and identifying a variety of trees and other parts of nature.

Read more about the event in Sunday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.