A 30-year-old man drowned in Folsom Lake on Friday.
Park personnel responded to a man struggling in the water near Beals Point this afternoon, the ranger said.
Lifeguards entered the water and searched for him for about 50 minutes.
Officials found the man under water about 4 p.m., brought him to shore and pronounced him dead.
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A 28-year-old Elk Grove man has been identified as the victim of a drowning in the American River near Discovery Park Friday night.
The Sacramento County coroner’s website lists the death of Ernest Perez Surita as an accident.
Sacramento police logs indicate officers were called to the area near the park Friday just before 7 p.m. and that the Sacramento Fire Department also responded and found the victim underwater.
He was taken to an area hospital and pronounced dead, police said. No foul play was suspected.
We hear it every year about this time: be careful around local waterways. This year firefighters are urging extra caution. That’s because low river levels present new challenges for firefighters when it comes to rescues.
Narrow choke points along the American River are good examples of how maneuverability becomes limited as river levels drop, and firefighters say the problem will only get worse as the summer continues.
The water may look calm now, but just a few weeks ago parts of the American River were half as deep. The drought continues to shift water levels. That can also mean shifting debris – known as strainers – that threaten to snag rafters. Firefighters use boats to get to people in danger, but when river depths can drop to six inches or less, there are some places that fire boats can’t reach, so they’ll have to use different access points that can slow a rescue attempt. That’s why firefighters warn rivergoers against thinking that shallow water is safer water this summer.
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John Havicon, Sacramento County’s new chief park ranger, was responding to a call about marijuana use in Rio Linda Central Park in 1996 when a suspect shot him in the chest. Thanks to a bulletproof vest, the ranger survived.
It was a dramatic moment in a 30-year career that culminated May 18 in Havicon’s appointment as the county’s chief park ranger. In his new job, Havicon oversees 17 rangers covering 15,000 acres of land across 32 recreation areas. The rangers hold the rank of deputy county sheriff and are responsible not only for maintaining the parks, but also for enforcing state laws. One of three candidates interviewed for the position, Havicon served as a park ranger supervisor for 10 years and a ranger for 17 before that.
“I love working with the community and being able to get not only our rangers involved in the parks, but the rest of the community,” Havicon said. “I think it’s an exciting time for us.”
One of the park service’s most important tasks is protecting the 23-mile-long American River Parkway. Homeless encampments along the heavily used bike and running path have caused controversy for the regional parks department in recent years, with critics saying the county needs to do more to address the problem. Illegal campers lack access to bathrooms and trash disposal facilities, so waste accumulates in the areas where they congregate, creating health hazards and threatening wildlife. Recreational parkway users and nearby property owners have raised concerns about safety.
Havicon said he plans to continue the county’s strategy of issuing citations to illegal campers as rangers encounter them during their patrols. He acknowledged that this practice does not deter campers from returning to their sites, or simply moving to another area of the parkway.
“We’re not going to solve the problem no matter what we do,” Havicon said. “The problem’s always going to be there. The best we can do is manage what we have.”
He estimated the department issued 2,000 illegal camping citations last year, and thinks 100 to 200 people are camping in the woods adjacent to the parkway on any given night.
Sacramento County Supervisor Phil Serna, who represents the part of the parkway where people camp illegally, said he will be pleased if Havicon doubles down on the “successful protocol” of teaming with law enforcement to issue citations to people who remain in the park overnight, while offering information about shelters and health resources.
“Legitimate users of the parkway deserve a clean and safe place to recreate, and homeless folks, for their own safety and health, should not feel forced to camp by the edge of the river,” Serna said.
John Foley, executive director of Sacramento Self-Help Housing, a nonprofit that works with homeless people to identify affordable housing options, said he thinks the rangers should reconsider their citation and eviction-based approach.
Many of the American River Parkway campers have no readily available alternative; area shelters have long waiting lists. Some campers, Foley said, have made homes along the river for years, and evicting them “doesn’t seem very neighborly.” Foley thinks the city needs to allocate more resources to help homeless people find homes.
“I think to expect the people who are policing the river to fix this is totally unfair,” Foley said. “It’s not their fault, and it’s not their responsibility, really.”
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A free 5-mile run along the American River is scheduled for Wednesday evening to mark National Running Day.
The event, part of a coast-to-coast celebration of running, is sponsored by the Sacramento Running Association, a non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging people to run.
The run, a 5-mile loop, begins at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Guy West Bridge and University Avenue in Sacramento. Runners of all abilities are invited to participate.
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A Woodland man boating on the American River near Tiscornia Park apparently drowned Saturday after he left his boat and went into the water, according to Sacramento police.
“It doesn’t appear that he wore a life vest,” said Officer Michele Gigante, spokeswoman for Sacramento police.
The man, who was identified as Pedro L. Mendoza, 38, of Woodland, was taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead.
At 6:50 p.m. Saturday, Sacramento police and fire responded to the 100 block of Jibboom Street in Tiscornia Park on a call of a possible drowning in the American River. Tiscornia Park is across the river from Discovery Park.
The man had apparently been boating with friends and family.
“He went into the water for a dip, and he went under,” said Gigante.
“We don’t know if he got pulled by the current, we don’t know if it was a medical issue.”
Friends were able to get to him, and brought him to the shore, where he was transported by Sacramento Fire personnel.
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The deputies aboard Falcon 30, the Placer County Sheriff Office’s helicopter, were kept busy recently, rescuing a downed pilot, an injured hiker, and an entire family and their dog.
While water-rescue training near Folsom Lake Friday evening, crew members noticed a pilot flying a parachute ultra-light aircraft. A short time later, the sheriff’s helicopter pilot witnessed the aircraft crash into the water, in the middle of the lake. They immediately flew to the pilot’s rescue and were able to perform a hoist rescue. The Sacramento man was uninjured – and grateful that Falcon 30 was nearby to rescue him.
After 10 p.m. Saturday night, while on routine patrol in Placer County, the Falcon 30 crew was advised by Sacramento law enforcement officials of a rafting accident on the American River near “Gilligan’s Island.” After a brief search of the riverbanks, they located the family of four that had been stranded for two hours, trying to get medical help. Following a medical assessment, it was determined a 13-year-old boy needed medical assistance. The boy and his mother were transported to fire crews on the ground. A return trip was made for the father, another teenager, and the family dog.
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A Rancho Cordova family of four and their dog had to be rescued by helicopter from Gilligan’s Island in the American River on Saturday after their raft ran into a submerged obstacle.
“It sounds like they were pretty lucky,” John Havicon, chief ranger with Sacramento County Park rangers, said of the family – Richard and Jennifer Rice, both 34, and their two sons, Seth, 16, and Nathaniel, 13. “They all had life jackets on, so they were pretty smart. Things worked out well for them.”
Richard Rice said Monday that Nathaniel remained at UC Davis Medical Center, where he was taken Saturday with mild hypothermia and to be treated for an underlying illness.
“It was definitely scary,” Rice said of the ordeal. “But everyone was great along the whole process.”
For the past five years, the family celebrated Memorial Day weekend by rafting on the American River. This year they brought along their 3-month-old Great Dane puppy, Marmaduke.
“This was the first time we had our own raft, instead of renting one,” said Rice, an information security consultant.
At 2 p.m. Saturday, they got their Party Island raft into the river just below the Sunrise Boulevard bridge, planning to get to William B. Pond Recreation Area, just shy of Watt Avenue. They towed a smaller raft containing an ice chest, car keys and cellphones. Rice had picked up four life jackets from a fire station earlier.
Everything was going fine until about 7:30 p.m., when the raft approached the Arden rapids near River Bend Park. “As we were making the decision to go right or left, the river made the decision for us,” said Rice. The current took the family to the left, where, Rice said, an empty raft was caught in the middle of the river on something, which he thinks was a log.
“We did everything was could to avoid that part, but ended up hitting it square on,” he said. “The raft was not maneuverable at all.”
The collision caused Nathaniel to fall backward into the water. “I fell right out afterwards, chasing him down, and Marmaduke came after us,” recalled Rice. “I was able to catch up with Nate, about 300-400 feet past where the boat was, and get over to the side of the river.”
The trio made it to Gilligan’s Island, while the raft with Jennifer and Seth was filling with water, said Rice. They were able to get out of the raft, grab the smaller raft and get to land, but on the other side of the river. About 15 minutes later, they reached Gilligan’s Island by using the smaller raft, Rice said.
In the meantime, Nathaniel began experiencing health problems, his father said.
Rice resisted calling 911 right away, he said, because he hoped to get off the island and get to a second car they’d parked at William B. Pond Recreation Area.
But he was unable to get across the river. “I’m a decent swimmer, but I had a hard time,” he said. “It was impossible to swim upriver.”
Havicon said the American River was flowing at 1,750 cubic feet per second this weekend, and that the current was probably faster where the family was, as the river narrows at that point.
About 8 p.m., Jennifer Rice called 911 since Nathaniel’s condition started to worsen. “We got patched to the rescue team, and they realized we were at a point which was not accessible by land, so they had a helicopter come get us,” said Richard Rice.
At that time, Falcon 30, a helicopter with Placer County sheriff’s office, was in the area. Rice said he used the family cellphones’ flashlight function to guide the pilot.
About 9 p.m., Nathaniel and Jennifer were picked by the helicopter and taken to a waiting Sacramento Metro Fire ambulance near Rod Beaudry Drive. Richard, Seth and Marmaduke joined them about a half-hour later, and Nathaniel was taken to the hospital.
The family’s rescue was one of three made on the American River this Memorial Day weekend.
A man had jumped off a raft to get a paddle at the San Juan rapids about noon Saturday, but didn’t know how to swim. “They got to him just in time,” said Havicon, the chief ranger. Sunday, a woman fell off a raft and was staying afloat but started to panic, so rangers plucked her to safety.
“It’s pretty mild for Memorial Day weekend,” he said. “We have a lot of people out here, so it’s a busy weekend for us compared to the past.”
Three park rangers patrolled a 23-mile stretch of the American River, from Hazel Avenue to Discovery Park, by boat.
This season, there have been at least 10 rescues or calls for assistance on the American River, but no deaths. “We average six drownings a year, but we have not had any this year,” said Havicon.
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Everything around the Guy West Bridge is pleasing to look at. Everything but the bridge itself.
The slim and shaky footbridge crossing the American River at Sacramento State needs some love. Paint is fading and chipping on the towers, and the handrails need to be fixed. The city says it’s planning to spend more than $3 million on a makeover this summer, and crews are already out there getting ready.
“It’s worth it,” Pam Sechrist said. “It’s one of our landmarks and we need to keep it in shape.”
It was a cloudless, warm morning last week as Sechrist finished her daily walk over the bridge with Tess, her lively Jack Russell Terrier/Chihuahua mix. Waves of college students joined her, hurrying across the span to their 9 a.m. classes. Cyclists and joggers weaved through the traffic.
No one was looking at the bridge.
That’s too bad. When it was built in 1966, it was thought to be the longest pedestrian suspension bridge in the country. And it was designed to look like the Golden Gate Bridge.
The Golden Gate Bridge’s official color is “International Orange.” It is an unmistakable color, designed to create a connection between the striking bridge and the landscape around it.
The Guy West Bridge is supposed to be that same color. Instead, after years of fading, its coat looks more like the skin of an old Barbie doll.
Some have suggested painting the Guy West a brilliant yellow, like the city’s true landmark crossing, the Tower Bridge. Others have mentioned throwing in a touch of Hornet green to salute Sac State.
The city is sticking with the original shade of orange. If all goes well, the new paint job will be done by the fall, along with a touched-up deck and a revamped electrical system.
It’s a sizable investment as other projects around the city are slowly receiving attention. Nearby, the city has found the cash to pave a bike trail on the south shore of the American River between Sac State and Sutter’s Landing Park in midtown.
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A body was recovered from Folsom Lake on Friday morning, possibly one of the four boaters killed on May 10 when a speedboat crashed.
The man’s body was spotted by a citizen who informed authorities about 9:50 a.m. The body, which has not been identified, was recovered by state park rangers and the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department coroner.
The body was found near the mouth of the north fork American River.
After the discovery, a helicopter crew searched in the same area for the bodies of three other men who are presumed dead from the crash of the 32-foot Skater powerboat. The missing men are identified as Toby Strauch, 54, James Strauch, 47, Jake Jacobs, 53, and Jon Smith, 48, all of the Sacramento area.
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