Paul Rolly, Reporter
The tragic Bear Lake boating accident on June 1 that left four dead and three injured apparently occurred on the Idaho side of the lake, but while Utah officials mounted a multiple-agency effort to find the missing boaters on the storm-ravaged waters, Idaho officials were not notified
In response to a story last week in the local Rich Civic Times that chronicled the rescue efforts, Bear Lake State Park Manager Kirk Rich wrote that the call came through the Rich County, Utah, 911 system and nobody on the Utah side contacted Idaho rescue agencies.
"Since the boat was found on the Idaho side of the line, it can be assumed that the tragedy occurred in Idaho waters," Rich wrote to the Rich County-based newspaper. "However, Rich dispatch and Utah Parks treated it as a Utah emergency and chose not to contact Idaho State Parks and its marine deputies or Bear Lake County dispatch."
He added that Utah officials chose not to notify their Idaho counterparts "for reasons unknown" and Idaho agents only learned of the disaster when a Bear Lake County deputy stopped a Rich County deputy for speeding in the Fish Haven area. "He then informed the Bear Lake deputy of the Idaho emergency."
That was several hours after the search was launched, and by the time the Idaho folks got involved, the bodies and survivors had been found and the search was essentially over.
The Rich Civic Times reported that rescue efforts from the Utah side included two Utah State Parks boats, a late-dispatched Coast Guard boat berthed in Utah and manned by Utah rescue personnel, three smaller privately owned Utah boats, and three Rich County-based ambulances, as well as three Utah-based helicopters.
The tragedy claimed the life of a Utah father and his two daughters, along with a teenage friend of the family. The mother and two other teenagers in the group were rescued from the freezing waters.
Rich County Sheriff Dale Stacey said that he arrived at the scene late, and didn't realize the Idaho responders had not been notified.
"They should have been notified sooner," Stacey said. "We're taking steps to make sure this never happens again."
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