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The Berning Mill Dam on the Crow River near St. Michael,

Minnesota was typical o a lowhead dam. Water fowing overthe top creates a recirculating current drawing objects backtoward the ace o the structure. Even boats with powerulengines have been trapped and capsized by lowhead damssuch as this one. The dam has now been removed as parto a state dam saety program.

The Minnesota DNR teacheRescue School. In a drill, athe boil. A victim caught iand be pulled ree.

late September 1975, a tragic chaino events in Binghamton, New York, taughtriver users and rescue teams valuable les-sons in dam saety. By the time the epi-sode ended a day later, three people weredead and our had been injured.

An early all storm had made theSusquehanna River unusually high. Oneevening, two raters were swept over theRock-bottom Dam and trapped in the cur-rent below the structure. Witnesses to theaccident summoned help, and a rescueboat was launched with three frefght-

ers on board. In the turbulent water, thecrat capsized. All three were thrown intothe river. One frefghter drowned; theother two, along with the two raters, werepulled rom the water.

The next day, on a body recovery op-eration or the lost frefghter, the fre chieand two frefghters approached the damrom downstream. As their outboard-pow-ered boat reached the base o the dam, thecurrent caught it and the boat turned overin the roiling water. Desperate attempts torescue the trio ailed, including a try withthe fre departments extension ladder.

Twenty minutes later, a rescue boatcarrying two sheris deputies arrived onthe scene. By this time, two o the frefght-ers had disappeared, the third was bobbing

in the maelstrom.As i to add horror to horror, this at-

tempt once again ended in tragedy as thethird rescue crat overturned in the turbu-lent water. Luckily, the two deputies andthe remaining frefghter were swept clearo the dam and eventually rescued.

Why did this tragedy occur? Are thesesmall dams that dangerous? Was this justa reak accident or could it happen in otherplaces, including Minnesota? What can bedone to prevent these tragedies?

DROWNING MACHINE Dams come in many sizes and shapes,everything rom huge lock-and-dam struc-tures on the Mississippi River to small,lowhead dams. Although there are saetyproblems with larger dams, their size anddesign do not present the type o threatinvolved in the seemingly harmless lowheaddams.

Lowhead dams are generally smallstructures usually no more than 10 eethigh, although some are as low as sixinches. They have no gates or water -controldevices; water ows constantly over them.Most were built to provide water or grainmills or early hydroelectric generators, andto control lake levels.

Because o their small size, they do notappear to be dangerous, especially whenviewed rom a boat or canoe upstream.They can be pleasant places in the summerwhen water drops over them and gentlyows downstream.

In the spring and during other periodso high runo, however, the dams becomevery dangerous. Torrents o water pouringover the dam create a churning backwashor current. This hydraulic, as it is otencalled, is really a recirculating current. Theroiling water takes any object includinga person to the bottom o the stream,releases it to the surace, sucks it back tothe ace o the dam, and pushes it back tothe bottom. This cycle can continueindefnitely.

In addition to the current, other haz-

ards are inherent in most lowhead dams:

Both aces o the dam usuallyconsist o a vertical concrete abutment.Even i a victim struggles to the edge othe structure, chances are poor that he orshe will have enough strength to climb thewall.

Branches and other debris trapped inthe hydraulic pose an additional hazard tothe victim.

Temperature o the water at times ohigh runo is usually cold, which decreas-es survival time.

Finally, air bubbles mixing in the waterdecrease its buoyancy by one-third. Thevictim has a hard time staying aoat, evenwith a lie jacket.

In sum, these actors combined withthe hydraulic current create a nearly-per-ect drowning machine.

OUR LOWHEAD DAMS

Problems with these dams are notconfned to New York. Deaths o victimsand rescuers have occurred in nearly ev-ery state, including our own. Most o the

several hundred lowhead dams in Minne-sota were built during the late 1800s andearly 1900s. Many have been abandonedor are no longer used.

One such dam which was removed

was located on theorms the boundarand Wright countienearly as tragic asdent began with wbeen a dare.

A 25-year-old mcushion on his bacBerning Mill Dam river was unusualland the man was t

Occupants o twdam attempted to

become victims o The frst canoe capcanoeist was washreached shore saewith two men and into the spillway. Iall three occupants

A state trooper but was unable to the boat cushion tInstead, the troopethe woman rom thhad been brought men. He and two bkeep her breathingThat evening she d

Two days later,ered. The fnal toll

In

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As tragic as these deaths were, how-ever, they were not unique. The dam whichhas claimed the most lives is the RedRivers Drayton Dam located on the Minne-sota-North Dakota border 40 miles northo Grand Forks. Since it was built in 1964over a dozen people have died in its spill-way. Despite warning signs, ordinances,and city and state police ofcers patrollingthe site, fshermen and canoeists continueto press their luck at the base o the dam.

TDM

2012, State o Minnesota, Departmento Natural Resources 3/12 - 1M

Front cover: This sign is placed along rivers across theU.S. To boaters, the signs diamond shape indicatesdanger ahead.

Printed on recycled paper containing aminimum o 25% post-consumer waste.

This inormation is available in alternativeormats by calling:

651-296-6157in MN toll ree 1-888-646-6367

The Drowning MachineWritten by Kim A. Elverum and Tim Smalley

Photos by Tim SmalleyLayout & Design by Sharon Ketelsen

Boat and Water SaetyMinnesota Department oNatural Resources500 Laayette RoadSt. Paul, MN 5 5 1 5 5-4 0 4 6

Boat & Water Saety 651-259-5400

Toll Free 1-888-646-6367www.mndnr.gov/boatingsaety

e-mail: boatandwater.dnr@state.mn.us

Equal opportunity to participate in and beneft rom pro-

grams o the Minnesota D epartment o Natural Resources

is available to all individuals regardless o race, color,creed, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, pub-

lic assistance status, age, sexual orientation, disabilityor activity on behal o a local human rights commission.

Discrimination inquiries should be sent to MN-DNR, 500Laayette Road, St. Paul, MN 5 5 1 5 5 - 4 0 4 9 or the O-

fce o Civil Rights, U.S. Coast Guard, 2100 2nd St. S.W.,

Washington, D.C. 2 0 5 9 3 - 0 0 0 1.

While not a NASBLA approved boatingsaety course, this publication isrecognized by the National Associa-tion o State Boating Law Administra-tors to beneft boating saety 2012.

In 1980, ofcials o the Ohio Depart-ment o Natural Resources were dismayedto learn that, in two years, nine frefghtersand police ofcers in that state had losttheir lives, and others had been injured,in ast-water-rescue attempts. Additionalchecking revealed the same type o deathsand injuries had occurred in other states.

These accidents involved rescue per-sonnel who were injured or killed in whathad been considered routine water emer-gencies. Typically, the rescue personnel,like adventuring river users, were confdento their equipment, knowledge, and experi-ence.

Only a ew ortunate rescuers have

survived a trip through the current below alowhead dam. Dennis Lutz, a Miamisburg,Ohio, frefghter, described his experienceattempting to rescue a teenager:

You cant believe how powerul thecurrent is. As my buddy and I approachedthe dam, the boat seemed to rise and moverapidly orward. Its like being caught by amonster. It just wont let you go.

The rescue boat flled with water andcapsized as the strong current sucked itinto the dam. Lutz was dragged down intothe hydraulic, battered along the bottom,caught in a submerged tree, wrenched ree,and pushed to the surace, only to havethe cycle repeated. Lutz was fnally res-

cued, but his companion and the teenagerdrowned.

In response to these tragedies, the OhioDNR Division o Watercrat, with the assis-tance o frefghters, the Red Cross, and

canoeists, developedtechniques that canhelp anyone acedwith a ast-waterrescue problem.

The techniquesthat Ohio devisedhave been put intopractice across theU.S.

Lowhead damrescues are eithershore- or boat-

based. Shore-basedrescues are used ondams up to 300 eetwide which haveaccesses at bothends. I rescue by a throw-line is notpossible, a line with a rescue buoy in thecenter is placed across the river. Thiscan be done with a line gun, or by usinga boat downstream rom the dam. Rescu-ers on both sides o the river then workthe line up to the victim and pull thevictim to shore.

Dams where access to both ends isnot possible, or dams that are wider than300 eet, generally require a boat-based

rescue. This method requires two boatswhich are connected by a saety line.The frst boat approaches the dam

rom downstream, being careul not toenter the hydraulic. A otation device ona line is then cast to the trapped person.The second boat remains 100-150 eetdownstream. Its purpose is to assist inthe rescue and keep the frst crat rombeing pulled into the dam.

Other techniques have also beenused successully, including specializedwatercrat and a coupling which allowsan ordinary fre hose to be inated withcompressed air and pushed out to thevictim.

Rescue techniques must be realisticand simple. Rescue agencies must knowthe dams in their area, take measures toprevent accidents, and plan and practicerescue methods.

RESCUE

This sign, installed at manydam sites around the state,warns people o the potentialdanger o a lowhead dam.