In November 2012, the La Plata County Sheriff’s Office led a search of Vallecito Reservoir for missing teenager Dylan Redwine. But it needed the help of a dive team and turned to the New Mexico State Police.
Now the Sheriff’s Office is assembling a regional dive team to conduct search-and-rescue and recovery operations in regional waters. And Pagosa Springs Fire District and Archuleta County, which reported four drowning deaths last year, Durango Police, Durango Fire Protection District and the Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office are also interested partners.
A first step toward that goal was taken on a sunny day last week, when officials went to Lake Nighthorse to test the department’s newest asset: a 2006 decommissioned U.S. Coast Guard boat.
“The Dylan Redwine case, when we had to search a lake in November, really highlighted the need,” Sheriff Sean Smith said. “There has never been a formal drive to do this.”
Southwest Colorado has traditionally sourced New Mexico for recovery missions like the Redwine search. But mishaps in La Plata County waters are expected to increase, particularly near Vallecito Reservoir starting this summer.
“We track the campgrounds in the Vallecito area, and we saw a 30 percent increase from 2014 to 2015,” Upper Pine River Fire Chief Bruce Evans said. “We’re also seeing a dramatic increase in paddle boarders and flat-water kayakers. With the runoff being what it’s been with a wet spring, Vallecito Creek has been a very attractive location to some of the more experienced and extreme kayakers.”
Slips are sold out at the newly rebuilt Vallecito Marina, which means more boats will make waves on the lake this year, the Sheriff’s Office said.
“So with all these changes and the burn scars healing over from Missionary Ridge and starting to look green again, it makes the place very attractive,” Evans said. “We’re trying to prepare for whenever you get a massive increase of people. There will be some kind of mishap.”
Most water incidents involving hypothermia in La Plata County are connected to Vallecito, where the water remains in the 50s even in summer. For this reason, the boat will be stored there with the fire district.
Last year, Durango Fire Protection District 4, which covers that area, responded to 12 patients in water-related incidents, including a canoe tipping where three passengers went overboard. With no means of rescuing them, a sheriff’s deputy found a civilian with a pontoon. By the time the three were rescued, they were near hypothermic.
Those reports have nearly doubled since 2014, when there were five incidents, Evans said.
There are a few dozen certified divers working with regional law enforcement and public safety agencies; Smith said the Sheriff’s Office has about 10, though not all are trained for rescue.
A rescue dive certification program for all participating districts is forthcoming this year, and LPCSO will team with Colorado Parks and Wildlife for a marine law enforcement class.
The defender-class boat, surplus from ramped up U.S. Coast Guard patrols following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, is 25 feet long with a heated cabin. Valued at $184,000 in 2006, the Sheriff’s Office purchased it for $40,000 with drug-seizure funds.
Deputy Matt Webb, who worked as an engineer on the boat in the U.S. Coast Guard from 2002 to 2006, when he joined the sheriff’s office, said the boat is capable of 46 knots, or about 52 miles per hour, at sea level.
“This was purpose-built,” Webb said. “It’s multi-faceted for search and rescue as well as law enforcement operations.”
The boat needs some specialized equipment including marine radios, a GPS, depth-finders and side-screen sonar, which will be funded by the Southwest Region All-Hazards Advisory Council, a consortium of regional public safety agencies that administers Homeland Security grants.
Smith said the Sheriff’s Office will begin using the boat this summer, and the dive team and boat are expected to be fully operational some time next year.
[email protected]This story has been updated to correct the name of the marina.
