Updated at 11:23 a.m.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
Five swift water rescue team members continue to scour the Cispus River this morning in hopes of finding the 5-year-old Tacoma boy who vanished while camping with his parents on Monday.
“They’re going back over the river and looking at log jams,” Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Cmdr. Steve Aust said. “The Randle Fire Department and Packwood SAR (Search and Rescue) are on standby, if we should find anything.”
The family was staying at an unimproved campground in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest several miles south of Randle. The child was riding his motorcycle and apparently got too close to the bank and fell in, while his parents had their back to him, according to the sheriff’s office.
Search and rescue efforts yesterday went until dark, with 18 personnel, including a dive team from Thurston County. A news helicopter assisted earlier in the day, the sheriff’s office said.
They focused on several log jams, Aust said. What was thought to be the child’s helmet about a mile downstream turned out to be only its visor hung up on a log jam, according to the sheriff’s office.
The motorcycle was pulled from the river yesterday, close to the camp spot, according to Fire Chief Jeff Jaques.
Responders called about 7 p.m. on Monday were looking for both the little boy and his 32-year-old father, who had jumped in the river. It was almost dark before the man was found, on the bank looking for his son about a half mile from the camp spot, according to Aust.
The terrain, steep embankments and heavy brush, is making the effort very challenging, the sheriff’s office said yesterday afternoon.
“The river continues to run very swift and cold making the search extremely dangerous,” the sheriff’s office said.
At the scene this morning are sheriff’s office Chief Criminal Deputy Gene Seiber and the water rescue members consisting of four deputies and a officer with Fish and Wildlife, according to Aust.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
As a swift water instructor for over 25 years, I applaud the Lewis Co. SO and their volunteer swift water SAR folks and divers. This is a difficult search physically and emotionally.
No searcher or LE officer wants to search for a dead child. This whole Incident is sad and it’s one of those strange incidents that happens from time to time and our hearts go out to this child’s friends and family. What the public must remember is as a SAR Coordinator the first issue is safety. When a Class 4 to Class 5 water is moving this fast
17 feet per second or more, the weight and power behind the water volume is massive. The power of the water can pin and drown a person in a matter of seconds.
I’ve seen this type of water strip an adult of his clothing in seconds.
We worked a drowning on the Toutle river many years ago where a rafter drowned. We never did recover her remains. She got caught in a strainer (Logs and other debris stuck together) and that was it. We went in many times and located her remains under the log
jam / strainer but there was no way safely to recover her.
The victim’s family accepted this fact and that was her final resting place.
When a human drowns, their scent immediately rises to the surface. A search dog handler can walk the shoreline with his / her SAR dog and when the SAR dog detects the victim’s scent, the searcher marks the location with flagging.
Then he / she moves upstream slowly with their dog on lead working the shoreline. When the search dog stops alerting, the searcher marks the location again with another flagging. This will show the water rescue recovery teams where the victim’s remains are. They will be between the first flagging down stream and the last flagging up stream.
I’ve worked 221 drownings over the last 28 years. 15 have been in swift water situations. Should the victim become unstuck from the debris pile he / she may travel downstream for many miles before stopping. Getting stuck in another strainer or eddy.
The sheriff is 100% correct in his statement that this is dangerous and all personnel must use the upmost safety while working this case. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of you during this time.
Respectfully
Mr. Oakes
SAR Coordinator
International K9 SAR Services
http://www.k9sardog.com