Boaters Need to Chart Safer Course, Army Corps Warns

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
9 August 2011
By Mandy Hofmockel

Three boats have run over or into dams on the Ohio and Allegheny rivers at night since July 30, and although none of the eight people involved was killed, authorities fear the worst if boaters don't take greater care.

In the most recent case, five people whose boat went over the Highland Park Dam and capsized on Saturday were rescued from the Allegheny River. Two people drowned near the dam in a similar accident in 2006, an official with Allegheny County's Swift Water and Flood Response Team said.

"We're unbelievably fortunate that all of those folks survived," said Col. Butch Graham, of the Army Corps of Engineers, referring to the series of incidents.

At a news conference on Monday near the lock and dam where the latest mishap occurred, the Corps of Engineers urged boaters to take safety courses, explore unfamiliar waterways in the light of day and wear life jackets.

On Friday, two people who were going down a back channel ran "smack dab" into the Emsworth Dam's metal gate on the Ohio River, Graham said. On July 30, a solo boater went over the Dashields Dam on the Ohio River.

Fixed-crest dams such as the Highland Park Dam and the Dashields Dam can be almost invisible at night and in low-visibility situations, Graham said.

"Three in eight days is a little extreme," said Larry Furlong, waterways conservation officer with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.

The commission investigates such accidents and, though no citations have been issued yet, the boaters likely will be cited with negligent boat operation, which carries a $200 fine, Furlong said.

"Just a little bit of operator action" could have prevented the incidents, he said. Rows of signs mark the fixed-crest dams and navigation charts show hazard locations on the water.

"If you're navigating, you need to know the hazards in the water you're navigating in," said James Fisher, chief of operations with the Corps of Engineers in Pittsburgh. "You bear that responsibility as a boater."

Mandy Hofmockel can be reached at mhofmockel@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7989.