Child pulled from Boone River in first use of water rescue craft
Boy clings to tree after canoe flips near 7-B Ranch; family of four safeBy Lori Berglund — Daily Freeman-Journal Editor
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An 8-year-old boy and his family are safe today following a dramatic rescue Sunday on the Boone River in the first use of a water rescue craft purchased by the Webster City Firefighters Association earlier this spring.
Firefighters described it as picture-perfect rescue, made possible by the decision to purchase the Zodiac water rescue craft after a similar incident near Stratford on the flooded Boone River in 2008.
"You couldn't have asked for a more perfect rescue," said Scot Ely, volunteer firefighter and Webster City Police Officer, of Sunday's rescue.
He credited the family for being prepared with lifejackets, and for all remaining calm.
"Both children did an outstanding job," of assisting with the rescue, Ely added.
Ely, along with fellow firefighters Jeremy Estlund and Andy Sowle, had spent the morning in the boat on Don Williams Lake in Boone County, assisting the team that had rescued two men from the Boone River near Stratford during the worst of the 2008 flood. While there was no rescue necessary at the Boone County event, the boats were there to watch over hundreds of swimmers participating in a triathlon.
The Webster City team was on the road back and had just crossed the line into Hamilton County when the 911 call was paged out at 11:29 a.m. Sunday that a family was in trouble on the river.
The team made very good time getting back into Webster City and was met with other firefighters already on the scene.
Ely emphasized that it was a team effort and credited those firefighters first to respond with finding a good spot for the boat to put it in the river.
"They even had gas waiting for us," just in case it was needed after using the boat all morning in Boone County, Ely explained.
Michelle Hooker, mother of the boy who was rescued, agreed that the rescue went perfectly.
"The response was really fast," Hooker said.
Mrs. Hooker was in one canoe with 8-year-old son, Alex, when they went around a bend in the river and got caught up in a tree. She said the biggest problem was not the current or the depth of the river - although it was over her head - but the wind that was pushing the canoe around and helped send them into the tree.
"The wind was hard today, it turned the canoe around a couple times," she said.
It was a combination of getting pushed into the tree and Alex dropping a paddle and then reaching for it that flipped the canoe, according to fire department reports.
Mrs. Hooker helped get her son to the safety of a substantial tree branch. After knowing he was safe, she said she went after the canoe, which by then had been righted by the river.
The two were followed in another canoe by the rest of the family, father Terry Hooker and daughter Isabelle. Seeing what had happened to the first canoe, they were able to avoid the tree and beach the canoe at a sandbar.
Mrs. Hooker retrieved the first canoe and then docked it at the side of the river further downstream. She then got out and walked back to her husband and daughter.
By the time all this was happening, she could already hear the approaching sirens and spotted an Iowa State Patrol plane in the sky pinpointing the family's location.
Back in Webster City, firefighters first on the scene radioed to the boat crew to drive down the Boone River trail to a point near the end of 7-B Ranch property, where there was a good site to put the boat in the river. (The trail was designed for just such an occasion, with concrete strong enough and wide enough to allow emergency vehicles to drive on it when necessary.)
From there, the rescue crew went downstream and found Alex clinging to the tree and pulled him in to the safety of the boat. The crew then maneuvered the boat to the sandbar and met up with the rest of the family. Isabelle joined the crew in the rescue boat, while Terry and Michelle got in one canoe to go retrieve the other canoe. They then continued on to Briggs Woods Park, where their vehicle had been parked earlier.
The boat crew took the children safely back into Webster City and stayed with them at the fire station until their parents returned.
"They were watching cartoons," when the parents returned, said Firefighter Don Zehner.
Ely credited teamwork and a very good boat for making the rescue possible.
"This took teamwork, not just the guys in the boat," Ely said. And, he added, "the boat did all the work."
"We're able to go anywhere we want in that boat," Ely said.
While the department's old V-bottom boat would have been too unstable to allow rescuers to stand up in the boat and grab someone needing a rescue, this boat is perfectly designed for the task, he said.
"It's power and stability," are what makes the difference, according to Ely.
Ely said it is only the third time the boat has been on the water - and first time on the river - since it was purchased by the Webster City Firefighters Association this spring. The first actual training session was set for next week, but Ely said it's amazing that it was put to work so quickly.
"It cut its teeth on the first rescue on the river," he said.
Webster City Fire Chief Mike Lund, in an earlier interview, said a water rescue craft has been a goal of the department for some time, and last year's rescue of two elderly men near Stratford was the last straw in making the decision to purchase the rescue craft.
While the Firefighters Association funded the boat, public contributions have been coming in to help purchase lifevests and other rescue equipment. Donations are still welcome. For more information, contact Lund at 832-9132.
Contact Lori Berglund at editor@freemanjournal.net
