Kids Try To Walk On Frozen Hackensack River In Secaucus

SECAUCUS, NJ — It's every parent's worst nightmare: Three children were seen trying to walk onto the partially-frozen Hackensack River Tuesday afternoon in Secaucus.

The incident happened in the Harmon Cove townhouses complex, and the children were seen trying to walk onto the ice from the boardwalk that runs along the river, said a woman who works for the Harmon Cove property management company.

It was a Harmon Cove maintenance worker who saw them at about 3 p.m. Tuesday, she said. All Harmon Cove residents were notified about the incident in a mass email.

It doesn't appear the children made it too far out.

"Jose, our maintenance guy, saw the kids trying to get out there along the path where the PVC fence ends, along the Harmon Cove One walkway," she said in an email to Patch. "He was up at the (clubhouse), and shouted over to them. They ran away pretty quickly."

The incident was not reported to Secaucus police, and fortunately, none of the kids fell through the ice.

But Capt. Bill Sheehan, the Hackensack Riverkeeper and director of the non-profit organization that monitors the health of the river, emphasized how dangerous venturing out onto the ice is.

"What happened yesterday could have ended very differently, and it could have been a disaster," he said. "Those kids don't know how lucky they are that someone saw them. Even if they fell through in a shallow part of the river, they could have been stuck in the frozen mud."

Sheehan, who grew up in Secaucus, explained that the Hackensack River actually used to almost entirely freeze over, when it had more fresh water flowing through it. But that was nearly one hundred years ago.

"Years and years ago the river used to freeze almost solid," said he said. "I'm going to say up until the early 1930s the river would freeze. I remember seeing a photo of a well-known doctor who lived in Secaucus at the time and he would drive his Model-T out across the ice."

However, a dam built upstream at the Oradell Reservoir changed the salinity of the river, and now much less freshwater flows through the Hackensack, particularly around Secaucus. Today, there is a much higher ratio of saltwater to freshwater in the river.

"So today it doesn't freeze that well, because of all the salt. You'll get ice on the river, like we had last year, a six-to-twelve-inch-thick layer of ice," he said. "But as soon as you get out to the middle of the river, you fall right through. And the water is moving fast under it. Tell your kids: Stay off the river in winter!"

Incidents of people and pets falling through ice in New Jersey in wintertime are — sadly — not uncommon. Here are some incidents from 2018 alone that Patch has reported on:

Ice Skater Pulled From Freezing Lake In Morris County (Jan. 4, 2018)

Dog Dies After Falling Through Ice In Middletown Thursday (Jan. 11, 2018)

2 Boys Fall Through Ice In Rumson Monday (Jan. 15, 2018)

Dog, Couple Rescued After Falling Through Ice In Denville (Feb. 16, 2018)

Top photo: A January 2018 photo of the frozen Hackensack River. Carly Baldwin/Secaucus Patch.