Firefighters are ringing the alarm for swimmers, kayakers and boaters over how dangerous the Truckee River will be this summer. Today we took a look at the proactive step they took to reduce drowning deaths.
There's a darker side to all the snow we received this season. With warmer weather around the corner, mountain snow melt will begin to add to the Truckee River rapids. After the rare banner snow season we had, it's an apprehensive, uneasy time for Reno Fire Chief Dave Cochran. As he told us, "We are cautiously nervous. I have never seen the river like this. This is 3 to 4 times as high as it normally is this time of year."
Matt Peek has been with the Reno Fire Department for 11 years now. He knows that even on clear and dry days, rivers like ours get much more water from snowmelt than from rainy days…and the warmer melting weather is coming. "This year it’s different. It's going to be colder and bigger a lot longer than it has been in years. And it’s going to be, right on through those warm months when all the kids are out of school."
Entering April, the Sierra snowpack was 164% of average. And it's going to melt. The huge snow bounty you see up there is going to end up down here, adding to the churning rapids of the Truckee River and making swimming to safety this summer even more difficult and dangerous. Kevin Joell is Reno Fire’s Wet Team Leader. He told us, "These higher flows, there just aren't the safe areas that we normally have where someone could eddy out and get themselves to shore."
Today (Tuesday), something new showed up to make it safer. The first, permanent year-round mile marker was installed at Fisherman's Park off Galletti Way…the dividing line between Reno and Sparks, right alongside the mighty Truckee. More will show up in both cities, from Sparks Boulevard all the way up to Mayberry Park, one for every tenth of a mile. The markers are hard to miss: bright yellow, each with its own distinct easy-to-read number, ready to be relayed to 911 operators in emergencies. As Joell added, "As opposed to a description of, you know, 'It's near the rock, the big rock next to the large tree.’ When people call 911, they're not absolutely sure of their location."
The markers began with the committee that councilman David Bobzien co-chaired. He said the idea just popped out: "Just around the table, like 'Gee, it would really be nice if we had some markers so were could coordinate better in terms of emergency services along the river.’"
The Reno Fire Department's Water Entry Team responded to 29 emergencies on the Truckee last year alone, and drownings are already too often a yearly tragedy. The new markers just might tackle a deadly trend.
The Truckee mile markers are a joint effort between Nevada Land Trust, Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful, and the Sparks and Reno Fire Departments.
