OTTUMWA — Fire Chief Tony Miller and his crew heard the call: A boat had dumped two occupants into the freezing Des Moines River.
They were on scene quickly. And when the Market Street Bridge construction crew saw their boat, they made Tony an offer he couldn't refuse.
"Iowa Bridge and Culvert employees who were working on the Market Street Bridge had a crane right there," Miller said this morning. "They picked up our boat with three Ottumwa Fire Department firefighters right in it, and lowered it into the river. It was very impressive; I already called their company and thanked their president."
That meant from the time the OFD received the call until the time the boaters were out of the water was "approximately 10 minutes."
Miller said while the water was very, very cold, the short time the boaters were in the water means they'll probably just undergo observation at the hospital and be released.
One piece of advice offered by the chief: Obey the posted warning sign: Do not get within 300 feet of that hydro dam. This boat, he said, was within 50 feet, and the boaters were being bounced around by the open dam gate water.
The Des Moines isn't terribly wide at that point; could the boaters have doggy paddled to the shore?
"They'd have never made it," Miller said. "Never. This could have had a tragic ending."
Instead, it'll have an ending Miller said "you can't make up." This afternoon, the chief and his training officers are scheduled to teach a water rescue class.
-- Follow Mark Newman @couriermark.
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