Custer County Marine Deputy John Haugh sees boaters without life jackets on cold Sawtooth Mountain Range lakes nearly every time he takes his patrol boat out.
He issues warnings and citations to parents whose children are not wearing life jackets. He teaches water safety classes to schoolchildren, who often end up teaching their parents a thing or two. Tragically, despite his best efforts, not everyone gets the message.
Haugh was among the emergency responders last week who tried to save a 5-year-old girl from drowning on Redfish Lake. Claire Tanney and her father, Christopher Joseph Tanney, 31, an active duty serviceman stationed at Mountain Home Air Force Base, died after their kayak capsized on Redfish Lake on Friday.
Nobody saw the boat capsize or heard anyone call for help, said Haugh, even though hundreds of people were at the north shore day use area that includes Redfish Lake Lodge, beach and marina. Nobody knew anything bad had happened until someone on the beach saw a little girl floating face down just 25 feet from shore where the wind had blown her. The kayak was spotted later.
“This isn’t an isolated section,” Haugh said. “There were many people in the area. (A drowning) can happen so fast.”
A nurse practitioner and others on the beach immediately started CPR on the girl, Haugh said. The Custer County Sheriff’s Office was notified at 10:52 a.m. Friday.
Christopher Tanney drowned. His body sank and was recovered from the lake bottom in 44-foot-deep water not far off the north beach on Saturday, Haugh said. Claire was taken to St. Luke’s Wood River Medical Center in Ketchum on Friday where doctors got her pulse back and warmed her core. Then she was flown to St. Luke’s Boise Medical Center. She died in the hospital the next day. As far as Haugh knows, she never regained consciousness.
The Tanneys were not wearing life jackets. Claire’s was found in her father’s vehicle, Haugh said.
Haugh hopes the circumstances of the double drowning never happen again.
A shuttle boat driver from Redfish Lake Lodge saw Claire and Christopher leave in their kayak from the north shore beach about 10 a.m. Friday, Haugh said. After he dropped off hikers at the south end of the lake, the shuttle skipper headed back toward the lodge and saw the father-daughter pair also heading back.
Air temperature was in the 60s on Friday, and the water temperature was 54 degrees, Haugh said. Southerly winds were blowing between 10 and 15 mph, with gusts to 20 mph kicking up choppy waves 6 to 8 inches high.
Christopher and Claire were at Redfish for a father-daughter trip of camping, fishing and boating, Haugh said. Personnel at Mountain Home Air Force Base are handling funeral arrangements, he said. Press releases issued during the weekend by the Custer County Sheriff’s Office state the girl was 4.
Haugh gave kudos to the army of emergency responders and Jeff Clegg and staff at Redfish Lake Lodge, who fed and housed members of the Bingham County dive team free of charge. Idaho Department of Fish and Game personnel responded with a boat and helped Haugh and the Bingham County team search underwater with sonar for Christopher’s body.
The boats did a grid search Friday and resumed the search early Saturday morning. At 10:39 a.m. divers found and recovered Christopher’s body from the bottom of the lake near the swimming platform, which is not far offshore from the beach.
On Saturday, Haugh found a 7-year-old boy from Wood River Valley on Redfish Lake on a stand-up paddle board without a life jacket. He took the boy on board his patrol boat and got him to shore. The boy’s father didn’t know his son was out there, said Haugh, and hadn’t heard about the previous day’s double drowning. Haugh issued a citation. The father thanked Haugh for writing him up. The boy, also named John, gave Haugh a fist bump.
“People just don’t know how fast kids can disappear,” Haugh said.
Idaho law requires children 14 and younger to wear life jackets on boats less than 19 feet long. On larger boats, there must be a readily accessible life jacket on board for every person.
