The La Plata County Sheriff’s Office is expanding local search and rescue capability with attention to area lakes. It is a sensible move, one that should aid in suspected criminal cases and in rescues that could save lives.
The first step happened last week with the debut of the Sheriff’s Office’s new boat. It is a 25-foot former Coast Guard craft capable of reaching 46 knots, more than 52 miles per hour (at sea level.) It has a heated cabin and can serve both for search and rescue operations and in law enforcement.
The boat was said to be worth $184,000 in 2006. The Sheriff’s Office got it for $40,000 in seized drug money.
The boat will compliment the regional diving team the Sheriff’s Office is putting together. That is expected to include members from other local agencies, which could include the Durango Police, the Durango Fire Protection District and the Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office. Pagosa Springs Fire District and Archuleta County may also join in. There were four drowning deaths there last year.
Several incidents prompted the effort to enhance the ability to handle water-related cases. In the Dylan Redwine case, the Sheriff’s Office needed to search Vallecito Reservoir for the missing boy.
That was in November, but Vallecito is cold year-round. And it is there that La Plata County expects the most need. The boat will be kept with Durango Fire Protection District 4, which covers Vallecito.
Last year, that agency responded to a dozen water incidents. In one, a canoe tipped over and a sheriff’s deputy had to use a pontoon boat borrowed from a civilian to rescue three occupants of the canoe who by that time were almost hypothermic.
Southwest Colorado is a beautiful and inviting place, but like all places, it has its hazards. And if local search and rescue folks are going to rescue lost hunters, fallen climbers and people from fires, they should be equipped to rescue others from cold water. It is a good move on the Sheriff’s Office’s part.
Readers of Wednesday’s story, with the photo of the Sheriff’s Office’s boat at Lake Nighthorse, have asked who authorized the sheriff to use the lake. La Plata County Sheriff Sean Smith was accompanied by Russ Howard, general manager of the Animas-La Plata Operation, Maintenance and Replacement Association, which manages the A-LP project.
The ALPOM&R Association is the product of an intergovernmental agreement between the Bureau of Reclamation and the Colorado Water Resources and Power Development Authority, the La Plata Conservancy District, San Juan Water Commission, the state of Colorado, the Navajo Nation and the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute tribes.
