Heeding warnings amid lake dangers
Safety key as Berryessa visitors stream back
“You see these hills around here? That’s what it looks like underwater, too.” Sheriff ’s Lt. Pat McMahon, at Lake Berryessa
Napa County Sheriff ’s Deputy Walt Mazar didn’t hesitate when he got the call that a woman had been caught in a boat propeller at Lake Berryessa just over two weeks ago.
Working an overtime shift because of the busy weekend, he rushed into the water, applied pressure to her wounds with the help of bystanders, and got her to shore. First responders on the scene took over from there.
The work of responding to medical and drowning calls, as well as managing lake safety, has become even more demanding in the past year, as Lake Berryessa has seen a rise in visitors. Over the Fourth of July weekend, authorities expected about 30,000 visitors, said Henry Wofford, public information officer for the Sheriff ’s Department.
Since the pandemic started last year, “everyone took to being outside” and started visiting the lake, Sgt. Jon Thompson said. This year, they’re coming back.
The lake attracts visitors from all around the Bay Area, as well as the Sacramento Valley, he said. It’s also one of the few lakes that still has
enough water for boating during the drought, he said.
But, unfortunately, lake drownings are not uncommon — Lake Berryessa has already had two since midJune. Last week, two people drowned in a Sierra foothills lake,
Tuolumne County officials said.
Last summer, before Lake Berryessa had to close because of the fires in Napa County, there were six drownings and three nearfatal incidents over three months, Wof
ford said. More often than not, the people who drown are swimmers, he added.
Several factors make swimming in a lake more difficult than people expect, Thompson explained. For one, distances are longer than they seem. The lake also has steep dropoffs — you might be in water that’s 4 feet deep at one moment, move a few feet forward and, suddenly, it’s 22 feet deep.
“You see these hills around here?” Sheriff ’s Lt. Pat McMahon said, gesturing to the ridges surrounding the lake. “That’s what it looks like underwater, too.”
Another problem is heat exhaustion, the two explained. People don’t always realize how tired they are after spending all day in the sun, and they become exhausted much more quickly than normal while trying to swim.
“Most of our drowning calls are after 5 p.m.,” Thompson said.
About two years ago, Thompson and his team started doing joint trainings with Cal Fire, the California Highway Patrol and American Medical Response Napa to streamline their response to medical and drowning calls. Now, members from every group stress how well they’re able to work together to save lives.
With the increase in visitors that started last summer, American Medical Response Napa has deployed new resources to Lake Berryessa, including a firstofitskind emergency boat. It is staffed by three or four caregivers and equipped with the same supplies and medical devices as an advanced life support ambulance.
They also keep their medical helicopter from Reach Air Medical Services at the lake every weekend during the summer, instead of just responding on busy weekends like they used to. On Saturday morning, they responded to a call that came in before the paramedic, nurse and pilot had even gotten all the way to their station at the lake.
“Doing this is a direct response to the increase in calls,” said JohnRey Hassan, regional director for American Medical Response Napa. Last year had about 90 emergency medical calls, he said, on top of the six drownings. This year, Memorial Day weekend saw 22 emergency medical calls, and June 27 alone saw 10.
But, luckily, despite the high number of visitors, the Fourth of July weekend ended up being a quiet one, Hassan said, with only five total emergency medical calls. One patient was transported by helicopter and one by the emergency boat to a dock where an ambulance was waiting. The responses were a team effort, he said.
But that doesn’t mean people should let their guard down. They should always wear a life jacket, Thompson and McMahon stressed, telling stories of times they were able to rescue people who had fallen off personal watercraft but were able to float until responders could find them.
“I don’t get in this lake without a life jacket,” Thompson said, adding that he grew up boating.
“Life preservers have their name for a reason,” McMahon added.
At Lake Berryessa on Saturday, the Napa County Sheriff ’s Department recognized Mazar — who is weeks away from retirement — with an award for saving the woman’s life two weeks earlier.
Mazar and Wofford recalled how bad the situation was. The woman had suffered numerous major wounds on her legs from the propeller — “she was possibly going into shock,” Mazar said.
“Her legs were nearly amputated,” Wofford added.
But their perspectives on the incident are slightly different.
“I was just doing my job like everyone else,” Mazar said. “It really was the whole team.”
“He’s too humble,” Wofford said. “You saved a life.”