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ice <br /> EUGENE F ire & Emergency <br /> Medical Services <br /> Field Operations <br /> City of Eugene <br /> 1705 W. 2 Avenue <br /> MEMORANDUM Eugene, Oregon 97402 <br /> (541) 682 -7103 <br /> (541) 682 -7116 FAX <br /> www.ci.eugene.or.us <br /> Date: July 25, 2005 <br /> To: Johnny Medlin — Parks and Open Space Director <br /> From: Joe Zaludek, District Chief <br /> Subject: Golden Gardens Response Issues <br /> Today Glen Potter asked me to try to communicate the issues around the Golden Gardens response on <br /> June 19, 2005. Engine 7, Engine 8, C -2 (Commander for Battalion 2), and Water Rescue 1 were <br /> dispatched to the Golden Gardens ponds to a report that 2 individuals could be seen submerged under the <br /> water. E -7 was dispatched at 1637, they were enroute at 1638 and they arrived past the curb at the creek <br /> north of Jessen at 1640 hours. The officer assigned to Engine 7 that shift was Rich Hill. Rich is a member <br /> of the water rescue team, has been an avid kayaker and is the professional river guide. Rich was a <br /> collegiate wrestler, is in excellent physical shape (one of the fittest members of our department) and is <br /> about 35 years old. I'm telling you this because Rich had his crew stop at the creek to gather their rescue <br /> equipment while he ran with a radio in an attempt to find the location in the 24 acres where the last seen <br /> point was for the victims. With a guide, it took Rich about 5 or 6 minutes to run around the ponds through <br /> the grass and brush to get to the shore of the northern most pond on the property. Rich took Command at <br /> 1646 hours. I arrived with Engine 8 and grabbed a pike pole (A 10' long pole for pulling plaster ceilings) <br /> and ran to the last seen point to deliver the equipment and take command of the incident. <br /> The scene on arrival was chaos, bystanders were bouncing and flailing around in the water in the area of <br /> the last seen point and Rich Hill had to get at least a half dozen well meaning citizens out of the water to <br /> prevent another victim as some were children (relatives of the victims) and adult bystanders that heard the <br /> call for help. I then interviewed the brother at the waters edge to get a last seen point and got him to throw <br /> a rock where he saw them last. It was then confirmed that we had two victims so another medic unit was <br /> dispatched and Medic 9, Medic 92, and Water rescue 1 were directed to enter the property off of <br /> Clearlake Road as we were as far away from Jessen road as we could be. <br /> Police officers from EPD (2 or 3) dropped their gear, stripped down to their shorts and another EPD <br /> officer guarded their weapons while they assisted the fire crews in searching for the victims. We had a <br /> total of 11 rescuers in the water, I gave my PFD to a crew member and we outfitted Police officers with <br /> PFD's off of the engines. We then grabbed arms and walked systematically across the pond until the <br /> bottom dropped out into a sudden hole that was full of grass and we had to probe with our poles and oars <br /> at that time. We continued to probe, interview, and rake the bottom of the pond but even with a long oar <br /> and our pike pole we struggled just to touch the bottom. Divers later reported the bottom to be 12' to 15' <br /> in some areas. <br /> Page 1 of 3 <br />