Warning: Don’t venture into the water unless you’ve got a life vest

Published 7:09 am Thursday, July 29, 2010

Monday’s drowning of a Seattle woman in the Skykomish River in Monroe was exactly the kind of tragedy officials had hoped to avoid.

As the temperature soared, the message from safety officials has become more urgent: Extreme temperatures are best tempered with an equal amount of caution. Heat, and the many ways people in Snohomish County try to beat it, can turn deadly in an instant.

That’s why Everett officials raced to Silver Lake on Tuesday afternoon when someone called to report three boys in trouble on the water. Dive teams, firefighters and police rallied to mount a rescue effort.

The boys made it to the shore OK.

“We’re all on alert for this situation because of the weather,” Everett police Sgt. Robert Goetz said. “We’re prepared to respond if needed.”

Temperatures Tuesday soared into the 90s and could top 100 degrees today, officials said.

People looking to cool off in the water need to remember two words, Snohomish County sheriff’s spokeswoman Rebecca Hover said:

“Life jackets, life jackets, life jackets,” she said. Children and adults need to wear flotation devices whenever they’re near, on, or in the water.

Boats, rafts and inner tubes aren’t substitutes for a life vest, Hover said. Placid rivers can look tempting, but often hide dangers.

“You can’t make any assumptions about the river,” Hover said. Riverbeds change constantly. “Just because it looks safe from the shore doesn’t mean it is underneath.”

Arden L. Balyeat, 48 of Seattle, died after trying to cross the Skykomish River near Monroe on Monday afternoon with her son, 7.

One of them slipped and they were carried away in the current. Bystanders rescued the two from the water and medics performed CPR on Balyeat.

She died at Valley General Hospital. Her son was treated and released.

The Snohomish County Medical Examiner on Tuesday ruled the drowning was an accident.

“As the temperature continues to climb, we expect more and more people to flock to lakes, rivers and streams to cool off. We don’t want to see another tragedy like this,” Hover said.

The mother and boy in Monday’s incident were not wearing life jackets, Hover said.

Drowning can happen in a moment, officials said. That’s why it’s important to keep a watchful eye on children at all times.

It’s also a good idea to play carefully in pools.

Early Tuesday, medics rushed to the Cedar Spring Camp on Highway 92 to treat a man in his 50s who was pulled unresponsive from a pool, Lake Stevens Fire District Deputy Chief Dave Lingenfelter said.

Witnesses told the firefighters a child jumped on the man while he was in the pool, Lingenfelter said.

The man was rushed to a local hospital and medics were able to detect a pulse, he said.

Later that evening, sheriff’s divers searched Martha Lake for a possible missing diver, Hover said. Witnesses told rescuers they saw a man diving in the lake but didn’t see him come back up. Crews found nothing and no one reported a loved one overdue.

Officials went door to door around the lake to make sure people were accounted for, Hover said.

Balyeat is the third drowning victim in Snohomish County this year.

A Lake Stevens woman, Cindy Tate, 48, died July 11 after her boat flipped.

In Everett, a man, 24, died after going under the water in Silver Lake. He died on June 1.