COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- The Colorado Springs Fire Department is warning locals to keep off the ice at lakes and ponds.

Periods of warm winter weather and wind can make it extremely easy to fall through thin ice.

So, make sure children are never unattended near ice.

If you're on ice and hear cracking, lie down and spread out to distribute your weight. Then get a bystander to call 911.

But if you don't want to heed the warning, firefighters with CSFD's Station 1 were out practicing their ice rescue emergencies Thursday at Memorial Park's Prospect Lake, and it took only two steps before their mock victim fell through.

So, the best way to experience a winter wonderland of fun is at an ice rink.

"This is a controlled environment, and it's going to be as safe as it can be.  When you go outside you have another variables, primarily the climate that make it so it's not a reliable surface to skate on," John Carricato with Sertich Ice Arena said.

While the ice indoors is only an inch-and-a-half thick, it's consistent, refrigerated and always maintained.

"I grew up in Minnesota where there was always someone falling through the ice because you don't know how thick ice is.  But in a rink you know how thick the ice is," Mary Barker, a local parent, said.