With the Saturday drowning of a 16-year-old on the Sacramento River and record heat in the forecast, city and county leaders are pushing for a wider distribution of life vests on Sacramento’s rivers.
Supervisor Phil Serna said he asked county staff and reached out to City Councilmen Steve Cohn and Steve Hansen – both with popular swimming spots in their districts – to “do what is necessary to have life jackets available to the public ASAP.”
Serna said he’s planning to have life vests distributed at Paradise Beach and Sand Cove Park near where the 16-year-old drowned along Garden Highway.
Witnesses said the boy, whose name has not been released, was swimming with a 13-year-old friend – both without life jackets – when he went under the water and never came back up.
It was unclear whether the life jacket distribution would apply to other beaches as well, Cohn said.
In an email to The Bee, Serna said there is some urgency to getting life jackets into the hands of recreational swimmers, with temperatures expected to top 100 degrees by the end of the week. The National Weather Service predicts a high of 109 degrees on Saturday.