High water may have saved pontoon boater

Zanesville Fire Chief Dave Lacy is speaking out about last weeks boating accident on the Muskingum River. A local man had just left the dock at Terry's Tavern and ran out of gas. The river took him and his boat over the dam.

Chief Lacy said the fact that all the rain made the water high was one of things that helped.

"The fact that the amount of drop off was reduced due to the high water that probably helped in that you didn't have that long fall down. Another thing that probably helped that the rate of flow that we had you know the fast moving water and with the boat being a fairly larger object it shot it over that dam and it was able to land down below and not remain in what we call the boil," Chief Lacy said.

Lacy said if you get trapped in a boil it will just keep churning you around over and over again.

"Your chances of surviving and going over that dam and getting yourself thrown out of that boil would be very slim. There's a number of fire fighters that have lost their lives and have been seriously injured," Chief Lacy said.

He said that this is one of the most treacherous rescues fire fighters make and the boater made the right move to stay in the boat and that's what saved him from injury.

http://www.whiznews.com/content/news/local/2010/06/14/high-water-may-have-saved-pontoon-boater