Waterways are running at near-peak levels this week after the San Juan Mountains received above-average snowfall this winter. The high water can be an allure to river users, but also a danger for inexperienced or unprepared boaters, kayakers and tubers.
The Durango Fire Protection District has already responded to a number of calls this year involving river users who get tossed and appear to be in distress or in need of rescue. When trouble happens on the river, the swiftwater rescue team is called into action.
The team is divided into different shifts with three to four technicians on each shift, said Hal Doughty, chief of the fire district. That allows the DFPD to respond at any time of the day.
Calls involving the swiftwater rescue team come in all shapes and sizes. The team has come to the aid of tubers stuck on rocks, fugitives from the law finding themselves in the frigid river and drivers of cars that land upside down in irrigation ditches, among others.