Often, Bassett noted, not only the person who fell in needs to be rescued, but also anyone who tried to save them. The hope is a nearby park ranger or even maintenance worker will be able to toss one to a person caught in a creek or river instead of helplessly waiting for the fire department or search and rescue to arrive. This year, in preparation for what he predicts will be a particularly busy summer, Bassett said the fire department has tried to outfit as many city workers and vehicles as possible with emergency throw ropes. It takes a minimum of 10 rescue personnel to extract a person who falls into the creek, Friel said. There is also debris that has washed down the creek from the myriad of avalanches that rushed through Little Cottonwood Canyon earlier this spring. ![]() ![]() Once they reach the bottom, he said, they’ll most likely slam into something such as a fallen tree or a boulder. Right now, the cascades are not only violent but also very cold and Friel said hypothermia is almost certain. Those who don’t make it get swept down the falls. “It looks like a little creek,” said Rob Friel, who works with the Sandy fire department’s technical rescue team, “but it’s like walking on greased bowling balls. The creek is little more than 2 feet wide at that point, but slick river rock banks on both sides can make it more like a 6-foot jump, and deceptively dangerous. Bassett said all of them died after trying to jump across Bell Canyon Creek at the top of the lower falls. Still, over the past decade, at least four people have died at Bell Canyon. ![]() “We really just want to help people understand,” Sandy City Fire Chief Jeff Bassett said, “that right now is not the time to be near any water.”īassett said his agency has not had to rescue anyone from the creek so far this spring.
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