Editorial

Rich Civic Times Editorial 

Our Utah Search and Rescue effort at the tragedy last week was outstanding, professional and heroic. Many of the rescuers risked their own lives trying to save others. Because RCT has raised issues of communication, we are seeing changes being made already which will benefit the entire Bear Lake area. While these current efforts might not have made a difference in the June 1 tragedy, it is worth looking at some additional issues and questions to be answered for future incidents, including:

1. Radio contact. Why is there no radio interoperability directly between Idaho and Utah Park boats? Utah has 800 MHz state of the art radios. Idaho has an old analog system. In 2003, 2007, and 2009 there were Idaho State studies about this problem and in 2007 there was a significant grant in Idaho for new radios but none was given to Bear Lake County which has to communicate with Utah (and others) in the Bear Lake region. The Idaho State Parks boat was unable to communicate via radio directly with any of the Utah rescue boats, having to work through central dispatch.

2. Ambulances unable to cross state lines. In 2003 there was an Interstate Agreement Compact signed between the state of Idaho and the state of Utah for Ambulance Licensure that had a single stated purpose, i.e.,  “To allow currently licensed ambulance services based in the states of Utah and Idaho  the ability to provide the public, of either state, emergency medical services and medical transportation without regard to state border.”  The agreement contains considerably more specifics and was to remain in effect for perpetuity until rescinded by either of the two states.  We can find no evidence that it was ever rescinded. The Rich County Commission is aware of this compact but has been told by their insurance carrier that it does not legally indemnify them, so the ambulances stop at state lines.

3. Idaho State Boat not ready to launch. The large Idaho State Park 26’ boat was parked for a period of at least two or three weeks prior to June 10 for repair and upgrade in the State Park facility at St. Charles, Idaho. Memorial Day is the start of the high tourist season .  In response to the emergency the smaller 20’ boat was launched on the evening of June 1 from the North Beach boat ramp ½ hour after notification, operated alone by a highly experienced and courageous employee, which is as fast as they could get it in the water. Kirk Rich, Idaho Parks, said that the 26' boat is now in the Utah Marina as of June 13, using docking space which Utah provides free of charge.

4. Using all the resources available. The Bear Lake Community Clinic has IV warmers for hypothermia victims but they were not notified. With 7 potential victims and only 3 ambulances plus the 3 Utah helicopters, the clinic could have been a resource to start treatment.

5. Spotting Training. Should Search and Rescue in both states train and equip with high power optics and communication gear several volunteer spotters around the lake in both Utah and Idaho about how to spot people in the lake and how to give clear directions to search parties? The two spotters from Utah who helped the rescue efforts from a vantage point in Idaho were very calm and very accurate so that they were able to help save at least two of the survivors.

6. Waterproof Boat GPS. Should boaters in large and potentially dangerous lakes and water ways like Bear Lake or Lake Powell, for example, be required to rent or have waterproof electronic tracking units or visual flare devices for night use?

Many people may have more ideas for increased boater safety and we hope you will share them with us.

Salt Lake Tribune Cites Rich Civic Times

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."

Idaho State Parks Responds To RCT Re: Boat Tragedy

Subject: Information related to boat tragedy.
Sent: Monday, June 8, 2015, 9:38 PM
To: RCT Online rctonline@gmail.com

It should be noted that the phone call reporting the boating emergency rang through a Rich County 911 number.  Since the boat was found four miles on the Idaho side of the line it can be assumed that the tragedy occurred in Idaho waters.  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 Co. Dispatch.  It is my understanding that concerned family actually traveled to the marina and spoke with Rangers to further clarify their 911 call.  Utah continued to treat the incident as a Utah only emergency for reasons unknown.   Bear Lake learned of the disaster when a Bear Lake road deputy picked up a Rich county deputy for speeding in the Fish Haven area. "He then then informed the Bear Lake deputy of the Idaho emergency!
 

At about 8:39 pm a marine deputy was dispatched.  He subsequently launched at North Beach at about 9:10 and joined the search site just a couple of miles away.  He ran a grid search pattern with other rescue boats and also talked with another boat in the search.  He was not involved in any of the "finds" but participated in an efficient manner until the search was complete.  Bear Lake marine deputies did not launch other boats because the search was essentially over by the time the call came through.
 

Bear Lake State Park (Idaho and Utah both) have a long standing record of cooperative efforts in enforcement and search and rescue.  For reasons not yet explained Utah chose not to involve Idaho help even though the search was on Idaho waters.
 

Although not privy to all of the details related to the EMT callout the Idaho EMS self-deployed to the beach adjacent to milepost 4 north of Fish Haven shortly after 9:00 PM.  This was the closest site to the actual incident.  However, Utah had their rescue effort in full swing and took victims to the marina which was probably the best option at that time.  EMTs responded as asked and would have helped if needed.  I don't think it was ever a battle over crossing the state line--they mostly wanted to serve in the best manner possible.  Again Utah chose not to to activate Idaho EMS services.  They were dispatched separate of any Utah request. 
 

Your statement that Bear Lake played no substantive role is because they were never notified or requested. However, when notified they were deployed and served effectively as requested.  They simply had no knowledge of the emergency in progress. 
 

Kirk Rich

Park manager, Bear Lake State Park (Idaho)

Joy At The Lake

Photo by Lauriann Wakefield, Little Starling Photography

Items Left At Beach Will Be Confiscated

Bobbie Bicknell Coray, Reporter
Rich Civic Times

GARDEN CITY, Utah.  June 11, 2015.  Bob Peterson, Code Enforcement Officer, said that everything must be off the beach by 10 p.m. or property will be confiscated and owners fined.  Ordinance 15- 25.   He said so far the beach has been quiet, but people have had to be moved back because they don’t know about the new rules about car parking on the beach. 

1.    Cars must park 100 ft from the waters edge.

2.    No more than 500 yards of parallel travel at less than 10 MPH to get to spot.  There is no ATV or or car travel up and down the beach allowed.

3.    If you have boat launch permit from DNR at the Marina and quagga mussel inspection your vehicle can go into water to launch but then has to be parked back 100 feet.

Garden City will also ticket trash cans left out more than 24 hours.  When the storms come in they blow into the streets.  The off premise signs are illegal are being pulled up and taken to the city. 

Construction Progress Reported

Bobbie Bicknell Coray, Reporter
Rich Civic Times

Zan Murray, Garden City engineer said that the construction of the parking area at 150 South has been slowed because of the rain in May.  The project was projected to cost $500,000 but the actual cost will be $545,000.  The curb and gutters will be completed by next Tuesday.  Councilmember Bruce Warner asked about procedures for change orders.  Murray said that the contractors have guidelines.  The city has to approve all changes.  Murray and Riley Argyle have worked closely with the contractor and mayor. The extra cost will come out of the roads budget.

Murray said there is a local gas tax that can be adopted by cities for local roads to manage future roads.  The League of Cities and Towns got this through the last legislature. Bruce Warner said the citizens might be more interested in being taxed for roads if they knew what  local roads would be improved. “Should we ask citizens for input?” he asked.

 Murray replied that other areas are doing it by county rather than cities, but it might be a good idea for Garden City to do it locally for its road plans.  He will do a survey on what it would bring in and what it would pay for.  There is also an option for a transportation tax.

The transportation tax is a different tax which is more flexible and could fund bus service, senior transportation and other transportation issues and may be better than a gas tax.  The local shuttle will start in July. 

Murray also reported that  the Shundahai tank purchase is moving ahead.  The city has sent out letters to agencies to get approval. They will also need an archeologist to check on any historical artifacts that might be found as they do new construction.  Murray wants  to start immediately so that the project will be completed by September. 

The water share transfer with Swan Creek is slowly progressing.  They have pin pointed a well area and the application for transfer will be a joint one with the city

Fire Protection For Large Homes & Buildings

Bobbie Bicknell Coray, Reporter
Rich Civic Times

GARDEN CITY, Utah.  June 11, 2015.  Mike Wahlberg, Garden City fire chief, and Zan Murrey, city engineer, suggested that it would be in the best public interest to require sprinklers in large structures.  It needs to be based on square footage rather than whether or not they are for short term rentals or not. 

“As we fought the fire on Kimball Lane, we learned how dangerous it could be getting a fire out in a very large building.  At one point we thought there was a victim because there was an unaccounted for worker and an empty car was parked there. That was a huge building to try to search and there were few air pockets.  Even with all the fire department help from other counties it is a dangerous and almost impossible task to save someone in a very large building,” said Wahlberg.

Wahlberg said, “once a building reaches a certain size sprinklers should be required.  The footprint of a two level building of 8,000 building with multiple rooms making it almost impossible to search.  These large homes built as private homes are often going to be short term rentals in the end.”  There are 332 short term rental facilities in Garden City.

Murray said that other cities are requiring sprinklers because they are in fire danger areas near wild lands. Boulder County requires sprinklers on 4500 square foot buildings because they are worried about wildfires.  It is harder to control a large building fire from breaking out to other homes and empty dry lands. Sprinklers slow down the fire based on size and occupancy and helps people get out.  Searching 10 to 20 bedrooms is dangerous to the firemen.  Sprinklers would not have been operational during the construction phase, but this fire was a warning for the future.

Murray said that the International Building Code (IBC) any building over 3500 sq ft has to have sprinklers, but Utah is fighting it, thinking it is too restrictive, but the city can be more restrictive if needed.   Wahlberg said it almost eliminates the loss of life.  It also reduces insurance rates.  Mayor Spuher suggested doing more research on this.

Canal Leaks

Bobbie Bicknell Coray, Reporter
Rich Civic Times

GARDEN CITY, Utah.  June 11, 2015.  Canals in the city are leaking which had not been a problem when the land was in agricultural use.  Now that there are homes in the area, some have been flooded.  Garden City had to make an emergency repair on one of the canals this month and there was a discussion of whether the canal company should be charged for fixing it.

 Mayor  Spuhler said that “the city is a shareholder in the canal so it is our duty to fix it. But it is a shared responsibility.

Norm Mecham, president of Hodges Canal Company, said these issues need to have the whole canal board input.  He said that the Glamping project was having a leaking problem, but the developers dealt with it by piping the canal.  Farmers didn’t mind the leaking into their fields, but as development incurs, there is a problem of identifying who is legally responsible for taking care of this.  "The canal has been here since 1890, and you allowed building.  The developers should be aware of the leaking  and be responsible to fix it before they sell the land. " Mecham said.

Mecham asked if there were there grants to fix the problem.  The canal shareholders don’t have the resources.   Mayor  Spuhler said it would take millions of dollars to pipe the entire canal and that there were many more pressing things that needed to be done in the city first.

Murray stated that  a lot of irrigation companies have agreement about shared costs. The city is a shareholder. There are grants which are a 50% match grant. There are some leak issue, but they have been inexpensively pitched in. 

Councilmember Chuck Stocking said that the building inspector and the city need to communicate to the canal company  and developers that  mitigating things are built into housing development before building.  “ If you are below the canal it should be communicated to the developer and builders and citizens that there needs to be liners, sump pumps and French drains.”

The Mayor said that the city can educate the people.  A best practices document and buyer beware document should be attached to building permit because it is a lot cheaper upfront to build improvements than to retrofit them.

Musing Of A Muddled Male

Cow Magnets 

By Bob Stevens, The Muddled Male

        I have a pair of cow magnets that I keep around to remind myself that opposites attract. 

        Cow magnets, in case you are a city slicker, are magnetic-metal cylinders with smooth round ends to make them easy to swallow.  Dairy farmers feed them to their milk cows to collect any bits of barbed wire, nails, or bailing wire the cow might ingest when eating. 

        If you try to orient two cow magnets side by side with north-pole to north-pole and south to south they will push away from each other.  If, instead, you orient them north to south they can hardly be pulled apart. 

        Today Ann, my wife, asked me why I thought we managed to stay together after nearly sixty years when we see things in completely different ways.  She didn't smile when I said, "I guess we are just a couple of old, properly oriented cow magnets." 

        Have you ever found yourself arguing passionately with your spouse about some really important thing only to find later, once you begin speaking again, that while you thought you were arguing about the same thing you had actually been on two different subjects? 

        Take reading things on the internet, for example.  Ann hates computers, but she likes to read, so when I am looking at something newsworthy on the internet Ann will stand behind me and read over my shoulder. 

        I have a habit of skimming when I read.  Ann savors the detail and wants to ponder every word.  So when I scroll to the next paragraph before she is done with the one we were just reading she will say, "Move it up. Move it up."  Now to an Engineer "moving it up" means that you want the page moved up so that you can read further down the page, which is what I just did and I tell her so.  But when Ann says, "Move it up," what she really means is move the writing up which means that I have to move the page down so that she can read higher on the page where we just were, "And that, officer, is why we are shouting." 

        I suppose that you heard the story about the man and his wife who were in the middle of an argument when the man, in exasperation, said to his wife, “I don't know how you can be so beautiful and so dumb all at the same time.”  The wife responded with, “God made me beautiful so that you would be attracted to me, and made me dumb so that I would be attracted to you.”  And no, I haven’t heard Ann say that yet, although she may have considered it more than once.

        I thought of that story the other day when wondering why anyone would ever think that women are the weaker sex.  I knew that wasn’t possible when Ann challenged me to take a turn and have the next baby.

The Beauty Of Our Fields

Photo by Darrin Smith of Logan

Bear Lake Tragedy

Tragedy at Bear Lake

By Chris S. Coray, Reporter

Rich Civic Times

GARDEN CITY, June 6, 2015.  All of Garden City expresses its collective condolences and we grieve for and with the families so tragically affected by the boating accident this past week.  In addition to feeling just the smallest part of the indescribable pain felt by the families who lost family members,  we extend our love and thanks who did so much to try to rescue and serve all those involved in the event.

On Monday, June 1, 2015, a boating accident took the lives of 3 members of one family and one young friend on a private boat on the lake in Idaho, several miles north of the Utah border when a violent and unusual thunderstorm, with microbursts and winds up to 70 miles an hour arrived from the southwest with startling speed at about 6 p.m. and capsized the boat.  Bear Lake is a 112 square mile, 20 mile long lake that is approximately half in Utah and half in Idaho, it was dusk and becoming dark. Because of the clouds and the waves being so big visibility from the rescue boats was effectively zero.  The searchers wearing night vision goggles actually found the last two bodies as the lake calmed.

The 4 were part of a group of seven which consisted of a family (father, mother, two daughters) and 3 teenage girls who were friends of the children.  The victims were identified as Dr. Lance Capener, his daughters Kilee, 7 and Kelsey Capener, 14, and a family friend, 14-year-old Siera Hadley.

The water temperature was 53 F.  Wave heights were estimated at least 6 feet.  The family had done everything right, including notifying a friend of their expected return time and all were in life jackets. When the boat capsized they attempted to stay together but the storm violence split them apart. When they did not arrive back at the Utah State Marina in a timely fashion the Utah State Parks were notified by the friend. 

Volunteers from Utah were sent to lookout points in Idaho and two of them spotted the capsized boat from viewpoints at elevations above the lake.  These spotters were able to direct rescue craft coming from Utah to the appropriate location. 

Utah rescue personnel and equipment dispatched into Idaho included:  Two Utah State Parks boats, a late-dispatched Coast Guard boat berthed in Utah and manned by Utah rescue personnel, 3 smaller privately owned Utah boats, volunteered by Brian Hirschi, berthed in the Utah State Marina and manned by Utah rescue personnel, all 3 of the ambulances in Rich County, Utah (stationed in Garden City, Laketown, and Woodruff), and 3 Utah based helicopters from the Wasatch front.

By 11 p.m., all 7 persons in the water were located, in spite of darkness.  All 7 persons in the boat had been in the water for extended periods and 4 succumbed to the effects of hypothermia.  The father, two of his daughters and a friend of one of his daughters were unable to be revived, although these 2 daughters and the childhood friend were transported to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake by the Utah based medical helicopters. The mother and two other friends of her children were transported by Rich County ambulances to Logan, Utah, hospitals, and survived.

So far we have been unable able to determine the specifics of the rescue effort mounted by Bear Lake County, Idaho, and its Idaho State Parks entity.  We do not know when Idaho State Parks was notified of the emergency.  We do know that two ambulances from that county traveled to a beach on the west side of the lake near a development called “The Reserve”.  They were not engaged in any substantive way because they would not cross the state line and other resources from that county had no role in the search, rescue, and recovery operation on the lake.  

Sheriff Dale Stacey told Fox News that, “This was the single worst tragedy he had ever seen at Bear Lake.” 

Brian Hirschi's First Hand Account Of Rescue

Excerpts from Brian Hirschi’s personal first-hand account of the search and rescue operation for seven missing boaters that occurred the night of Monday June 1^st, 2015 at Bear Lake.

 ….”I’ve done my best to make a record. I do not wish to offend anybody. If any person involved knows of any details that need correcting, please let me know …”

"On the evening of Monday June 1^st, I was working on our new floating boat rental concession building in the Bear Lake State Park Marina when a huge sudden gust of wind came out of nowhere about 5:30 or 6:00pm blowing from east to west, which is a rare direction for the wind to blow on Bear Lake. The wind kept blowing hard, so I stayed at the marina to make sure our newly constructed floating building would stay in place on its anchors. After a while, the wind changed direction and started blowing from north to south, which is also unusual for the prevailing wind to change directions like that. These freak winds usually come up once or twice a summer on average at Bear Lake, and they unfortunately always seem to happen right before it gets dark.

I saw a group of people on the north arm of the marina looking out into the lake northward, and I saw that the State Park had taken one of their boats out of the marina to investigate something. I heard the chatter from the State Park that the group had said the other part of their group was overdue in their boat coming from North Beach to the marina. There was also a report of a floating dock that had gotten loose from the scout camp just north of the marina and was floating out in the lake.

Soon after, the State Park sent out a second boat to assist and search. At this point, nobody knew if this was a just a stranded boat ..... or if it was something more serious. I had thought about taking one of our rental boats out to help look at that point, but the description of the type and color of the missing boat was the same as our rental boat, and I thought this might cause additional confusion with people thinking our boat was the missing boat. ...

I saw that rescue personnel had started arriving at the State Park and somebody had gone directly above the marina on the hillside and was looking out over the water with a spotting scope or binoculars. For some reason at this point, I had a strange feeling that this incident was not going to be a simple case of a boat with engine problems. I decided that I would at least drive in my truck towards Fish Haven and St Charles at the north end of the lake and see if I could spot anything out in the lake from the foothills with my high-power binoculars. From past experience, I’ve found that looking over the vast waters of the lake with binoculars from a high  vantage point when there are huge waves is highly effective compared to being out on a boat. When you’re in a boat out on the water with the huge waves, it’s very difficult to spot anything with the rolling waves only giving you a short glimpse of any potential target. But of course, somebody has to be out on the boats in the lake in case something is spotted, which we are grateful to the State Park for doing.

 At that moment, my cousin, Joey Stocking, showed up at the marina. I told Joey and the deputy on-scene that I was going to drive to Fish Haven and St Charles to see if I could spot anything with binoculars. The deputy asked if I had the number to dispatch just in case, and I told him that I did.

I don’t know why, but I had a strong feeling of exactly where I needed to go in my truck to scan the lake. I knew the foothills between Fish Haven and St Charles would give me a great vantage point from where to look. This was about 7 miles away, and I hurried in my vehicle to get there. When I arrived to the location, I saw my cousin Joey in his vehicle was also arriving to the area, and we each took positions on adjoining hillsides and started spotting. After looking through my binoculars for a minute or two and attempting to scan every square foot of the vast lake before it got dark, I spotted what appeared to be a black dot on the water about 500-700 yards off shore. I kept watching the black dot, and every once in a while it would suddenly look as if though there were two black dots. I couldn’t tell if the dots were people, or what they were. I thought they might be birds weathering the storm, or the boots from a water ski left abandoned in the lake, or some other debris that got blown out into the lake from the storm.

From my cell phone records, at 8:19pm, I called my cousin Joey on his cell phone, who was sitting on the next hillside over. We had a two minute conversation where he told me that he also thought he saw something in the water, but that he thought it might be birds too. He said I should stay in position, and he would drive down to the beach and get a closer look. Joey drove his truck to the beach at an access point a little south of where we were at on the hillside. While he was driving his truck down, I spotted another unknown object in the lake about 2 1/2 to 3 miles out in the middle of lake eastward. I kept an eye on both objects to keep track of them.

Ten minutes later at 8:29 pm, I thought I saw the two black dots moving slightly through the water with what appeared to be kicking behind them to propel them, but I wasn’t sure. At this point, I was only about 50% sure that the black dots might be people. I attempted to call Joey so he could radio it in since I didn’t have a radio, but he did. His phone went straight to voicemail. I came to find out later that his cell phone battery had died. I also sent him an instant voice message on an app that we have on our phones, also at 8:29pm. Replaying the recorded message now, I had said to Joey, “I’m pretty sure that’s a person, it looks like they’re on their back and I can see kicking. I think that’s a person, should I let somebody know?” I didn’t receive an immediate response, so at 8:31pm I called dispatch and told them to relay the message to the state park boats out on the water, and to come about 500 yards off shore directly below a particular development’s entrance where we were at.

Two minutes later at 8:33pm, Joey called me on my cell phone. We had a 58 second phone conversation where I told him I had called this into dispatch. Joey may have said that he either had also called it in over the radio, or that he would call it in too. I told Joey that I was going to drive my truck down onto the beach through a different access to try and get a better look at the black dots.

            Three minutes later at 8:36pm Joey called me and said the state park boat was getting close to the area, but they didn’t know where to go exactly. I was already on the beach at the water’s edge at this point directly above the unknown objects. I turned on my headlights and the hazard lights to my truck to help guide the boat to the area, and I knew that if the objects were people, it would help them to know that we were aware of their situation, and that help was on the way. I heard Joey on the radio tell the boat to go towards Brian’s red truck parked on the beach with the flashing emergency lights and to start looking about 500 yards off-shore. I watched the boat coming closer through my binoculars. I was starting to get excited over a potential rescue, when I watched through my binoculars a disheartening sight as the state park boat passed right by the objects in the water. It was at that moment that I saw arms and hands extended above their heads waving frantically at the boat. ...

.

It was at that moment (8:41pm) that I got a call on my cell phone from a person who happened to be on that boat, and who happened to have my cell phone number. He had heard on the radio that I was on the beach and that I knew the location of the objects. I then had a 1 minute and 52 second conversation with him where I gave him directions of where to go exactly in the boat. This seemed to be the longest 1 minute and 52 seconds of my life. The boat appeared to me to keep going right past where it looked like the people were at, but they simply couldn’t see them in the large waves. My depth perception of how far out from the shore the victims were was hard to determine because it was getting dark. I had the boat turning in all sorts of directions to get back to where the victims were located. At one point, it appeared to me that they were pretty much on top of the objects, and I frustratingly asked on the phone how they could not see them. It was at that moment that the person on the other end of the phone simply said, “Ok, yes, we see them…bye” and hung up. It was later that I found out they had to get within 50 to 100 feet to the victims with the boat in order to spot them in the huge waves. They also said they finally spotted them pretty much at the same time they were close enough to start hearing their screams. Giving directions to the boat from shore in the near-darkness from 1/2 mile or more away to where the victims were at was like telling them where to find a needle in a haystack.

It was extremely lucky, or maybe divine guidance, that we were in the right spot at the right time to spot the first two girls who were rescued. Had we been one mile north, or one mile south, we would not have seen them. Somehow we ended up in the foothills at the closest point we could have been to the victims in the water. I know that many other people were driving around the lake also looking, and many others were spotting from the foothills from various locations. In other searches, I’ve ended up being the person farthest away from where people were actually found, so you never know. I’m just happy that in this search somebody (out of everybody looking) was able to spot them.

After the victims were pulled out of the water into the boat, I drove back up the beach to the highway about 300 yards away. I saw there was a couple of law enforcement vehicles parked on the highway with their lights flashing. I don’t know exactly at what point they had arrived, but I told them I was going back into the foothills to spot the other object I had seen.

I joined up with Joey on the hillside and I re-spotted through my binoculars the other object out in the lake several miles off shore. I thought it would be strange if the other object ended up being something because it was so far away from the first group, but that was the only lead we had at the moment. Joey got on the radio and told the search and rescue command to send another boat our direction because we had spotted another object. I recall in my mind wanting the boats to get to the area quicker, but the water was super rough, and in an emergency situation minutes seem like hours. It wasn’t actually very long before another state park boat showed up in the area near the shore where the first two victims were found. Joey got on the radio and told them which direction to start heading towards the second unknown object as I continued to watch with the binoculars.

At this point it had gotten too dark to physically see the object anymore through the binoculars. Luckily, there was a landmark on shore between me and the object so I knew exactly which direction the object was, and approximately how far out in the lake it was. I didn’t move from my position, and continued to give Joey course corrections for the boat to head towards in order to arrive at the target area.

Another State Park boat in the meantime had heard the chatter on the radio and also started heading in the direction that the first boat was heading. It wasn’t long before both boats basically arrived at the same time to the last known location of the object when we heard on the radio that it was only a float tube that they had found. For a few seconds, we were disheartened thinking that we had used up valuable time and resources chasing down this object. But then, we suddenly heard on the radio that there were three people with this float tube, and we were elated. But then a few seconds later, we were right back down again when we heard they had begun life-saving aid to the victims, and we knew it wasn’t good.

At this point, it had gotten too dark to see anything in the lake with binoculars, so I told Joey I was going back to the marina to take one of our rental boats out to look for the last victims. I still didn’t know at this point how many more victims there were still in the water. I drove quickly to the marina and checked in with command, and they sent somebody to come with me in the boat that had a radio. I grabbed the boat keys, life jackets, spot light, electric cords, and all-weather jackets and started running down the docks in the marina full-speed to get onto our boat parked at the docks……We started to head out of the marina just as we saw one of the state park boats coming into the marina with the victims from the second group of people. This was an eerie sight, but it reminded us that we still needed to get out there.

We set course for the search area in our 20 foot ski boat. We tried to go as fast as we could, but the huge waves were just beating the boat. I remember looking at the driver’s console and seeing it shake violently each time we hit a wave. It got to the point that it looked like the console was going to break apart, but luckily it didn’t, and we arrived near to the area where the first two victims were found to begin our search. The water was a little bit calmer as we got to the north end of the lake because the wind had begun to calm down by that time.

We decided to slowly search in a zig-zag pattern heading eastward to where the second group of victims had been found. We had a 4 million candle light power spot light, but it seemed like it was a kid’s toy flashlight because the water absorbed the majority of the light. The effectiveness of the spotlight was only about 50-100 feet. There were many objects in the water such as tumbleweeds that would falsely get our hearts pumping briefly as the spot light passed over them. We also used the light from the full moon’s reflection on the water to use as a sort of spotlight to also see objects in the water.

The whole time we were searching, we were trying to figure out in our minds where the rest of the victims might be located at based on the information we had at the time, and the wind directions from the previous couple of hours. We had been told on the radio that there were two remaining victims still in the water. I remember thinking at one point that there was no way we were going to find anything on the vastness of the lake in the dark only being able to see 100 feet at a time. Bear Lake is 109 square miles, and the only thing we knew for sure is that we were looking in the north 60 square miles of the lake. I’ve been out on searches like this before on a boat in the dark, and you have a mixture of feelings such as hope in one moment and hopelessness in another, along with urgency and anxiety all mixed together.

At some point, several helicopters had joined the search. We had heard on the radio that the capsized boat had been found by a helicopter, and that a state park boat was in that area searching the debris field. We could see where the helicopter was hovering above that area along with the flashing lights of the state park boat, so we decided to slowly head in that direction in a zig-zag pattern. I don’t know how long we had been out searching total, but it had probably been 30 or 45 minutes. Our hearts jumped suddenly when the spot light passed over an object in the water right in front of us. I sped the boat up a little to get closer, and within seconds, we realized that it was a person. We could tell that it was a teenage girl and that she had a life jacket on. I quickly stopped the boat next to the victim and pulled her out of the water right away. I could tell the victim was very cold and unresponsive, but I started CPR as I had been trained from having had a coast guard captain’s license in the past. My partner in the boat stayed on the radio calling for a state park boat to come to us as quickly as possible, and he also kept the spotlight shined so I could see to help the victim. The state park boat arrived very quickly and we immediately handed over the victim and they took over the CPR. Somebody on that boat handed us a set of night vision goggles and said the last victim was probably in that area, and then they headed back to the marina as quickly as they could

We  continued to search for the last victim. Another volunteer search boat had joined us at that point. We stayed within a couple hundred feet of each other and began to search again. It wasn’t but a few minutes that my partner shouted out to me that he had seen something with the night vision goggles. He hurried towards the area and immediately realized it was the last victim, another teenage girl.  She was wearing a life jacket, but she was also unresponsive and cold. I immediately pulled her from the water into our boat. Somebody from the other boat nearby (who I think basically spotted the victim at the same time), jumped into our boat and began CPR. We radioed for another state park boat to come towards us, and they arrived within minutes. We handed over the victim and they rushed her to the marina…..

Looking back, it’s always easy to think of how we would have done things differently. I ask myself if we somehow could have saved more. We just need to tell ourselves that these victims were actually found relatively quicker than most other victims in Bear Lake in similar situations that I can think of. The other factor was the sheer amount of people missing in the water at once. The most that I’m aware of that’s been searched for in the water at Bear Lake at any one-time is two people. To have seven in the water scattered over many square miles was overwhelming for everybody.

The victims were all wearing life jackets, but we just couldn’t get to everybody in time. The medical people told us later that if the surviving victims would have been found just minutes later, they probably wouldn’t have survived. We know that minutes made a difference for some. I don’t know why some survived, and some didn’t. The only solace we have is knowing that three survived when we very easily could have lost all seven by a matter of minutes. I consider the sequence of events that occurred which saved the lives of the three to be a miracle. …

This rescue effort was a team effort, and everybody involved did an excellent job during the organized chaos. There were people involved from every government agency, medical staff, and many volunteers. This is the worst accident that the lake has ever seen and it’s affected our community forever……My heart and prayers goes out the friends and families of the victims affected through this tragic boat accident.

Brian Hirschi

6-4-15

Ambulances Couldn't Cross Border To Help In Rescue

Letter to the Editor,

I think it is ridiculous that the Bear Lake County ambulances can't cross the state line into Rich County to help when lives are at stake like the Monday evening tragedy.  I understand that the Rich County Dispatcher was told to call the Bear Lake County ambulances to come to the marina to help with the people that were involved in that accident, but when they arrived they could not cross the state line into Utah and Rich County.  I think that the two counties need to get their act together and work out their differences immediately. 

Our doctors and hospital are located in Montpelier and if we have an emergency and need to be taken to our hospital, we have to call Rich County ambulance to take us to the state line and then have the Bear Lake County ambulance meet them there.  Then be transferred to the Bear Lake County ambulance to be taken to Bear Lake Memorial Hospital.  I hope and pray that we don't ever have that kind of an emergency.

Richard A. Droesbeke

Laketown

Library Rummage Sale

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GARDEN CITY LIBRARY RUMMAGE SALE

June 12 -13 

Garden City Park

Great buys and great finds!