Nobody was hurt in a recent string of incidents related to thin ice on Payette Lake, including one that left an off-road vehicle on the bottom of the lake.
The incidents culminated in an off-road vehicle breaking through thin ice at about 3:22 p.m. on Saturday afternoon off the shore of Brown Park, McCall Fire and EMS Chief Garrett de Jong said.
“The UTV sank and completely disappeared within a minute,” de Jong said, adding that the two men in the vehicle escaped into the water before it sank.
The off-road vehicle was driven by McCall resident Dan Scott, while 59-year-old Richard Scott was a passenger, Valley County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Dave Stambaugh said.
Neither of the men received citations for the incident, Stambaugh said.
Dan Scott is the former president and general manager of Shore Lodge and Whitetail Club. He currently is the executive vice president of strategy and business analytics for Alscott Inc, a Boise development firm, according to his LinkedIn profile. Alscott is the family development firm operated by the heirs of Albertsons grocery store founder Joe Albertson and his wife, Kathryn. The Albertson/Scott family owns Shore Lodge & Whitetail.
Warnings ignored
The incident involving the Scotts came despite multiple warnings, including from McCall Fire personnel who were already on the ice tending to two people that fell through the ice about 20 minutes earlier.
“Folks on the lake attempted to warn and stop the UTVs to explain the current danger, and they were dismissed,” de Jong said. “McCall Fire Fighters waved at the UTVs from the shoreline to warn them that they were headed for open water.”
All four people who fell through the ice were pulled from the water by nearby hockey players. Each person declined further medical attention from McCall Fire.
A second off-road vehicle traveling behind the vehicle that fell through the ice was able to drive back to shore safely. A video of the incident is available here.
Water quality testing underway
The sunken off-road vehicle raises questions about water quality in the lake, which supplies drinking water to the City of McCall.
A risk assessment is currently being conducted by the city and the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, with results expected within the next week, DEQ Boise Regional Office Administrator Troy Smith said.
“We don’t have a lot of information at this point in time,” Smith told Valley Lookout on Tuesday morning.
So far, no contaminants have been detected in filters at the city’s water treatment plant, Water Systems Manager Sabrina Sims said.
The vehicle sank in what de Jong estimated to be at least 200 feet of water in an area about 1,600 feet from a city water intake pipe off Legacy Beach, Sims said.
The sunken vehicle is about 2,100 feet from the city’s other water intake off Davis Beach, which is currently being used as the primary intake for reasons unrelated to the contaminant risk.
“Legacy Beach is off this winter due to work taking place in the fall and early winter near the boat ramp and Davis Beach having been offline all summer due to upgrades to the pump station,” Sims said.
The Water Department plans to complete additional testing today, with results expected back in about a week. However, city officials expressed optimism that drinking water will not be affected.
“We are awaiting information and guidance from DEQ, although we expect risk to be low to drinking water since an average UTV contains 10 gallons of fuel or less,” McCall Communications Manager Erin Greaves said.
Recovery uncertain
The timeline for recovering the vehicle from the lake bottom depends on the results of the risk assessment, according to DEQ.
“The owner will need to eventually remove that vehicle,” Smith said. “Depending on what that risk is, it may affect the timeline of when that vehicle needs to be removed.”
De Jong told Valley Lookout that recovering the vehicle would be a “very challenging task” due to depth of the water and the elevation of Payette Lake.
“Diving at elevation makes any dive theoretically deeper due to the lower atmospheric pressure. At 5,000 feet, a 200-foot dive becomes a 240-foot dive, which limits dive time at the bottom and a slower ascent from the bottom,” he said. “Not impossible, but without specialized equipment and air, it is an impossible dive with regular air.”
Valley County Sheriff Kevin Copperi agreed with de Jong’s assessment and said such resources are not available through first responder agencies in the county.
“We don’t have a recovery team for this sort of mishap,” Copperi said. “The owner and their insurance will have to locate divers and appropriate recovery equipment to safely recover this machine from the lake bottom.”
Officials urge caution
The string of incidents came on a weekend where dozens of people took to Payette Lake to enjoy a clear layer of ice that has blanketed most of the lake over the last two weeks amid colder than normal temperatures.
In addition to Saturday’s incidents, McCall Fire responded to a call last Wednesday afternoon for a dog that fell through the ice near Brown Park. Firefighter/paramedic Beau Frick was able to pull the dog to safety and reunited him with his family unharmed, de Jong said.
The temptation of the smooth, slick has made the lake a popular hangout over the last week, especially for pond hockey and ice fishing. Most have been able to safely enjoy the ice, but de Jong warned that there is no clear rule for avoiding thin areas.
“There are parts of the lake that are well-frozen, and there are other parts of the lake that are not,” he said. “It is not uncommon to see parts of the lake that never freeze over due to water currents.”
That sentiment was echoed by Jordan Messner, regional fisheries manager for Idaho Fish and Game’s McCall office.
“We don’t do ice reports anymore,” Messner told Valley Lookout. “It varies so much that we just encourage people to be careful, drill test holes, keep safety gear with them, and not go alone.”
Messner has not recently measured water temperatures in Payette Lake, but said water beneath ice on frozen lakes generally ranges from 32 degrees Fahrenheit to 36 degrees.
The three thin ice incidents in the last week are more than McCall Fire typically responds to in an entire winter, de Jong said, attributing the uptick to more people being in McCall and on the ice.
“We have not had a year like this in the last couple decades,” he said. “More people, more problems. I don’t have anything more scientific than that.”
