3 hours and 8 minutes to go and we get a call

[Gary D.]

We are in the office getting ready for an early 2100 hours graveyard briefing when dispatch calls.
We have a possible drowning at McDonalds Resort on Lake Pend Oreille. Time is 2052 hours.

Lane B is the shift Sgt. so the two of us go flying out of the office while dispatch pages out the rest of the team. All we know so far is that there is a male in the water and they can’t get him out.

While we are in route we get several updates on what is going on and it isn’t looking good. But when I was still about 8 miles out we are advised that the victim is out of the water and CPR is in progress.

I slow down and fall in behind the ambulance for the last 6 miles through Farragut State Park. That area is loaded with deer so if we hit one, they have a truck.

We get there at 2111 hours after covering the 26 miles from the office. We locate the float house and find the victim is very cold but alive and awake. Medical packages him up and off he goes to the hospital.

It seems that he went into the boat slip area of their float house. He may have gone to take a wiz and as the typical intoxicated male will do fall in. His wife heard the commotion and went to check on him. She noticed him face down floating in the slip. He is a big man that is about three times her size so there is no way she can get him out alone. She starts yelling for help and their next door neighbors hear her and come help.

In the mean time she gets into a dinghy, K-Mart Coffin, and gets to him. Being a nurse she starts in water CPR until she gets help. They get him onto the dock and the rest has a happy ending. He’s alive, she’s not a widow and we didn’t have to get wet. The down side is he was legally intoxicated for almost three people and might have a killer hangover.

Here is the location. It is the north most unit out there at the very end.
http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?T=1&S=10&Z=11&X=2667&Y=26568&W=1

We responded from about the middle of the white box to the north between the two hooks on the lake to the north.
http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?T=1&S=17&Z=11&X=20&Y=206&W=1

At least we ended on a good note. Now to see what 2007 has to offer.

I hope all the other teams were as lucky as we were.

Happy New Year.

Gary D.

 

[Gary D.]

I almost forgot that Spokane may have one in the water.

Our female deputy that likes to call where are next dive is going to be, heard this on Spokane’s radio freq.

It sounds like a citizen jumped a burglar and took chase after him. At some point they ran down to the river and lost him.

I don’t know if Spokane units were there yet or not and I guess they don’t know if he went swimming or not. Our history sort of makes the odds kind of high that he went swimming.

The last one I chased went away for a while courtesy of the state resort system for several years. The last few from Spokane that tried it are guests of the local cemeteries. Stupid crooks don’t realize what fast and cold is.

Gary D.

 

[baitedstorm]

Gary, ya'll made some seriously good timing! Nice way to end the year.

 

[Gary D.]

Gary, ya'll made some seriously good timing! Nice way to end the year.

It wasn't us that had good timing. It just wasn't his time to go. But it was a nice end to the year.

Those float houses are all but deserted during the winter. It was a streak of luck that the people that live next door were home or we could have lost both of them and not known it for a while.

We got off to a lousy start and ended on a high note. Let’s just hope for NO calls this year. This is one business where no calls are a good thing.

Besides, we will be busy enough when the SS is finally set up and operational.

Gary D.