The Kay County Sheriff’s Office (KSO) shared a Facebook post on the afternoon of Wednesday, May 11, detailing an incident on Monday, May 9 in which a questionable body call in the Arkansas River was been transformed into a rare training opportunity. .
On Monday, Kay County dispatchers received a call from KS law enforcement officials stating that KS had received a report of a body in the Arkansas River on the Kansas side rapidly heading east. downstream due to high water conditions. Kay County dispatchers informed the KSO of the situation.
The KSO was then advised that their assistance was needed and the deputies launched the KSO lifeboat from the Bear Creek boat launch due to very dangerous wind and fast water conditions including southerly wind gusts over 30 miles per hour on the water and lake levels. were at least 10 feet above normal.
The Blackwell Fire Department launched its rescue boat from the Sweetwater fishing area, and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol also launched its rescue boat from the Coon Creek boat launch, while that the Newkirk Fire Department has set up an Incident Command Post at the River Road Fire Department.
The three ships were able to cover approximately 25 miles of shoreline to Kansas and back. The ships were nearly in Kansas when they learned that the person who reported the body may not have been a credible source. This was based on other questionable reports made by the individual earlier in the day.
KSO personnel remained on the river and carried out a comprehensive search scheme, turning a dangerous situation into a training opportunity that can rarely be replicated with a planned training day, personnel perfectly executing a search plan and operation boat in rough water.
