TWIN FALLS, Idaho — When an emergency gets called out on the Snake River Canyon, four agencies are able to respond: Twin Falls Sheriff’s Office, Magic Valley Paramedics, Twin Falls Fire, and the Special Operations Response Team.
But if they need a boat to access the incident on the water, that can take longer, as the Sheriff’s Office’s equipment yard is on the other side of town. Now, a new boat house right at Centennial Park aims to remove that delay, allowing responders to quickly reach the emergency site and get where they’re needed.
- Under mutual aid agreements, certified personnel from any of the four agencies are able to launch the new boat, stored in a new boathouse located 150 yards from the water.
- A new boat house and boat were funded by a grant from Seagrave’s Family Foundation.
- Twin Falls County Parks and Rec, City of Twin Falls, and The County Commission all made contributions to the project.
(Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)
"We had a 15-minute response time, on average, depending on where we were at and what calls we were handling at the time,” said Sgt. Ken Mencl from the Twin Falls Sheriff's Office.
When there's an incident or accident on the Snake River that requires emergency response, oftentimes it's Sgt. Mencl responding to the scene.
"A lot of times the call would come out and the response would be me driving from Kimberly to our yard next to the old hospital to here,” Mencl said. “And I can do that 15 minutes from Kimberly but it's movin'.”
As Centennial Park in Twin Falls has become more popular, calls for emergency response have risen as well.
“A lot of times the calls are for a drowning, but there are instances where somebody that jumps from the bridge has injured themselves in a base jumping situation,” Mencl said.
There are four agencies that respond to incidents in the Snake River Canyon, paramedics, fire, Twin Falls Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue, and the SORT, or Special Operation Response Team. But it’s the Sheriff's Office that has the boats.
"The paramedics or fire department are so much closer that they would invariably get here before the Sheriff's Office would,” Mencl said. “They'd be twiddling their thumbs while they're waiting for the sheriff's office so that rescue could take place.”
That's all about to change. A new boat house will store a ready-to-launch boat, allowing responders from the four agencies to get on the water right away.
Construction of the boathouse and the purchase of a new boat were possible from a Seagraves Family Foundation grant.
Now, instead of waiting for a boat to come from across town, responders have to cross 150 yards to launch.
"It's quick. I would say inside of three minutes, we're on the water,” Mencl said.
