The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Local water-related hoaxes rare
A kayak hoax on Lake Erie caused the United States Coast Guard to send a helicopter and a C130 fixed wing plane to search July 4 for two people.
Later, the small crafts were found abandoned in a woods rather than returned to the owner.
Coast Guard Petty Officer Markus Graham said hoax calls usually are not a problem at the Coast Guard station in Lorain.
Most false calls result from people trying to be helpful who think someone really is in trouble, Graham said.
“Maybe information wasn’t passed on to someone that should have been, such as an overdue vessel and a spouse calls us,” he said. “Or someone is riding by or they’re at the beach, and feel like they see a boat that might be in distress; someone could be in trouble, but they’re not.
“It is a big deal for the Coast Guard, because any time we launch a vehicle, put people in the water, or send out a helicopter or a C130 fixed wing plane, all that costs money. We do need to hold people accountable. We’re not trying to deter people from calling when they legitimately feel someone may be in distress.”
There is a big difference between trying to deceive emergency responders, or genuinely calling out of concern for someone on the water.
“We don’t want concerned citizens to not call us if they think someone is genuinely in trouble,” Graham said.
The most recent call to Lorain for a C130 flyover was July 4 for overdue kayakers.
The airplane and helicopter arrived from Detroit about the same time as a Lorain Dive Team searched for a drowning victim at Century Park.
“That was a lot of money spent on personnel and assets, water craft, air craft and fuel,” Graham said. “Come to find out it was just people who didn’t go back to where they rented the kayaks.
“We don’t know where they went or what they did after they rented the kayaks. That is up to a police investigation. Once we find out they’re safe and back on shore, we end up standing down.”
The Lorain Dive Team includes members from the police and fire departments, and Lorain police officer Mark Tomlin, 42, joined the Dive Team in 2005.
“Hoaxes are fairly rare just for the simple fact that we are a recovery unit,” Tomlin said. “For us to dive, we need a ‘last seen point.’ All of our search patterns would be based on the last seen site.”
If someone reports a missing boater, the dive team would not be called out, he said.
“Last year at Century Park, there was a missing girl,” Tomlin said. “Her identification was found floating in the water, which led to speculation she may have been in the water and drowned. If it hadn’t been for her ID in the water, (the dive team) would not have been activated.”
The team averages five or six calls a year, he said.
“Not all are for recoveries of bodies,” Tomlin said. “We do more evidence recovery. For example a gun that was thrown in the water, and we dive down and retrieve it. We’ll get activated more for those, thankfully, than body recoveries.”
Avon Lake Fire Department Assistant Chief John Rogers said his department schedules trained public safety divers on each shift, and he is one of the five.
Usually, the divers suit up for a rescue once or twice a year, Rogers said.
“Not all of them turn out to be somebody in a drowning situation,” he said. “It could be a disabled watercraft stranded on a breakwall, or somebody falls off a cliff and they’re on the rocks.
“Sometimes we can do a rope rescue to bring them up over the cliff. Sometimes it makes more sense to do a water rescue.”
Avon Lake operates two rescue watercraft, Rogers said.
“They’re two Jet Skis with rescue sleds on the back of them,” he said. “It enables us to pick people up from the water, put a life jacket on them and put them on the sled and bring them to shore.
“We also assist other departments, and they assist us.”
Sheffield Lake Fire Department staffs divers, Rogers said, as does Bay Village. In addition, departments support each other with mutual aid.
“Lorain County has an actual dive team,” he said. “They also make themselves available if we need assistance.”
The last time Avon Lake Fire Department fielded a missing person false alarm was in 2011, Rogers said.
“Whenever we do have a drowning in particular, it usually involves the Coast Guard,” he said. “Somebody may be floating in the water, but not near the area we’re searching as divers.”
Drowning victims usually go straight down, Rogers said, regardless of current. So witness statements are very important in finding a drowning victim.
A problem arises when witness statements vary widely, he said.
And the greatest chance of resuscitating a victim is if the person is found, brought to shore and started within five minutes with cardiopulmonary resuscitation, Rogers said.
With submersion time of more than 30 minutes, the person usually is not able to be resuscitated.
Every minute after the five minutes is critical, Rogers said, and with every passing minute the chances of a rescue decrease dramatically.