Two children on a summer day camp recreation
outing from the Skamania County Recreation program area had a
near-drowning experience in the Hood River July 17.
Recreation Director Scott Pineo confirmed the
two girls were part of a 13-member field day trip that also had four
chaperones accompanying them. The group was made up of 7- to 11-year-olds.
The two girls, listed by the police as Emily,
age 6 or 7, and Brooke, age 9, were attempting to swim across the Hood
River Channel from the new delta to the old Marina swimming beach.
“They apparently just got too tired to
continue any further,” said Devon Wells, assistant chief for Hood River
Fire Department.
The department sent one ambulance to the
scene but Hood River Police Senior Officer Mike Martin arrived first.
Wells said Martin was to be commended for the excellent response.
“I believe he pulled one from the water; I
know he carried both up to where the ambulance met him at the site,” Wells
said.
Martin said when he arrived on the scene, the
girls had been pulled to shore.
“I scooped up the 9-year-old; she was
unresponsive, limp and cold but when I opened her airway she came around,”
Martin said.
Wells said the children were hypothermic and
transported to Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital, treated and
released.
Martin said upon interviewing the chaperones
later on that it was apparent the group had planned to swim between the
sandbars. By the time the chaperones got onto the sand, the children were
already in the water.
While the Hood River might appear to be
static, it actually has a very swift-moving current. The situation becomes
more dangerous when the Hood and Columbia rivers meet. The Hood River
Lions and Port have put signs at the waterfront warning of the changes and
dangerous situation, especially for swimmers.
Wells said what happened Tuesday is what
responders have been apprehensive about since the new delta formed last
fall. He said while signs have been posted, people from out of the area
and even from the area often don’t know of the potential hazard or where
to direct emergency workers to during an emergency.
“So we are working with the port on placing a
number of signs labeling access zones,” he said. “When we responded
Tuesday, it was difficult to tell from the 9-1-1 call exactly where to go
to.”
The signs have been ordered and should be put
into place within the next two to three weeks.
