Beautiful but deadly: Drownings common at Eagle Falls, other local waters

INDEX — A canvas sign suspended by rope over the rough trail down to Eagle Falls says it all.

“Our valley has some of the most beautiful rivers and water falls in the world,” the Sky Valley Fire sign reads. “Also some of the most deadly.”

It’s a sobering reminder of just how quickly a fun day can turn into a nightmare. Sky Valley Fire officials say at least 11 people have died since 2020 at Eagle Falls, a stunning rush of water on the Skykomish River a few miles past the Index turnoff down U.S. 2.

It has become a common stop popularized in recent years on social media, causing some frustration for locals.

Sometimes people fall in and get swept under the water. Sometimes they die hitting their head after falling in. Sometimes they die taking a photo.

This year has seen a flurry of drowning deaths in Snohomish County.

The most recent at Eagle Falls was July 4. Two days later, Steven Knutson, a 46-year old Lake Stevens man, died near the Granite Falls Fish Ladder on the Stillaguamish River. His official cause of death was still undetermined this week, but he was found unresponsive in the water. Paramedics tried CPR to no avail.

About 30 minutes after the incident at the fish ladder on July 6, first responders responded to a separate water rescue at Eagle Falls. Bystanders on shore helped rescue the swimmer with the help of a flotation device.

This year, three have died at Eagle Falls and two more at the Granite Falls Fish Ladder.

Al Borlin Park in Monroe has been a site of rescues and near drownings. Sky Valley Fire Chief Eric Andrews points to other locations, as well — Wallace Falls, Canyon Falls and Sunset Falls.

Lake Ballinger near Mountlake Terrace has also been the site of drownings, including last year. About 5% of Snohomish County — around 109 square miles — is water.

For firefighters and sheriff’s deputies who respond to these calls, it’s dangerous, difficult and often heartbreaking work.

“The worst thing for me is when I have to go tell the family or friends and say, ‘I’m sorry, we did everything we could,’” Andrews said.

Many of the firefighters and EMTs on Andrews’ staff — a mix of professionals and volunteers — often respond to calls for people their age. On July 4, Sky Valley fire crews received a report of a man in the water at Eagle Falls.

Rescuers pulled Abdirahman Ismail, of Covington, from the water, but he later died at a nearby hospital. He was 24.

“I was just thinking this kid could very much be our friend, our brother, the same age as us,” said Sky Valley firefighter Temesgen Zegergis, who was among the responders to the call. “Somebody that was having a good time.”

‘The pain is the love for my son’

On July 4, 2004, Christopher Lund, 18, boarded a raft with his 16-year old brother at the family’s newly purchased cabin near Index.

His mom, Juli, had a bad feeling as they boarded the raft. The water was only ankle deep. But they didn’t know the river, she said, and Christopher Lund drowned after going over Canyon Falls. Her other son made it out.

Two decades later, she still remembers the fire trucks rumbling past on the dirt road and how it took 10 days to find her son’s body. And then, the long, horrible winter that followed.

“It’s painful,” Juli Lund, now 62, said through tears. “And it’s sad. And there’s lots of tears because I tell people that the tears and the pain is the love for my son that didn’t stop.”

Lund has since dedicated herself to Compassionate Friends, a nonprofit seeking to help parents whose children have died. She also collects and donates life jackets. It’s helped her find some meaning, she said.

Weeks after Christopher Lund died, Mike Oakley did too. He was 20 when he jumped in after a friend who fell into the Skykomish River near Canyon Falls. The friend survived. Oakley did not.

Juli Lund attended Oakley’s service, held at the same funeral home as her son’s.

“Every year when the weather changes, I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s gonna be a drowning,’” said Lund, who lives near Monroe.

Devon Shelby has been in the water at Eagle Falls for almost four years.

Andrews said divers have been frustratingly close to retrieving the body of Shelby, a 21-year-old man who died there in 2020.

His is a familiar story. Witnesses described Shelby slipping and falling on the rocks above the falls. He briefly tried to grab a rock and went underwater. He bobbed up once, they said, and then he went down. Andrews noted larger bodies usually float up to the surface.

Shelby was described as slight and skinny. The hope is that someday there will be a day the water will be slow and shallow enough for a successful recovery operation. Until then, the falls are his grave.

“You get a little too deep and you have this current, this turbulence that can just pull you and throw you in there,” Andrews said.

Locals are acutely aware of the drownings and recently have taken to social media to highlight their concerns. Many point to a TikTok video of Eagle Falls that went viral in 2020.

Since the pandemic, places like Eagle Falls and the fish ladder have become crowded. Similar issues can be found up and down the Mountain Loop Highway.

While no one’s arguing people shouldn’t go outside and enjoy nature, many feel these crowds don’t understand the dangers of the outdoors.

“I think a lot of it is a lack of respect for the water and what it’s capable of, and the environment around it,” said Pete Parrish, a firefighter and EMT with Snohomish Regional Fire and Rescue out of Monroe. “And I don’t know that that’s an intentional lack of respect, or just the lack of knowledge.”

One of those sounding the alarm is Lindsey Schwartz, 43, who has lived in Monroe since birth.

The recent rash of drownings stirred Schwartz, who once almost drowned herself. She’s taken to Facebook to try and raise awareness. A hairdresser, she said one of her clients performed CPR on Ismail, the 24-year old man who died at Eagle Falls on the Fourth of July.

She was “heartbroken” by the deaths. She’s not sure what can be done, but hopes bringing awareness could help.

“I just feel sick,” Schwartz said. “So unbelievably sad.”

She’s started something of a campaign to get people to send her emails describing some of the incidents that have taken lives in the water. Schwartz is hopeful those who come here educate themselves about the river and the lives its taken.

“A lot of people don’t know how Eagle Falls is kind of a whirlpool underneath,” Schwartz said. “It’s kind of the monster underneath the surface.”

‘It shocks your body’

On Wednesday, members of Sky Valley Fire took probationary firefighter and EMT Ryan Johnson out to Eagle Falls.

They were doing what they call “reconnaissance,” basically a training mission. They piled into an engine and ambulance and drove east to Eagle Falls to take a look around.

Johnson is new to the department, so they needed to show him what he’ll be dealing with when called out to the river. They went over what a response looks like and what roles he might be asked to fill. They pointed out places where responders can access the water and where trucks would likely have to park. They highlighted the trees they use to support ropes.

Nearby, one swimmer jumped in the water. Some cracked jokes about getting rescued to the firefighters, who had just spent 45 minutes talking about deaths on the water, about rescues. No life jackets were in sight, outside of those the firefighters and EMTs wear anytime they’re within 10 feet of water.

One swimmer noted how cold the water was on Wednesday. In these conditions, muscles lock up and a person can feel like they can’t move. It can quickly lead to hypothermia.

“They don’t realize that that water, that cold water specifically, it shocks your body and takes your strength away,” said Parrish, who is also a rescue swimmer and swift-water technician.

Parrish has been rescuing swimmers professionally for about 20 years. He’s trained everyone from firefighters to members of the U.S. Navy on rescue techniques.

Parrish explained the two disciplines in water rescues — moving water and static water. Rescue swimmers work in static water like lakes and ponds, while swift-water technicians operate in moving water, like streams and rivers.

Parrish teaches first responders at Snohomish Regional Fire and Rescue’s annual water academy. It’s a week-long course that starts in a classroom before moving into a swimming pool and finally training sessions in lakes and rivers. They use the North Fork of the Skykomish River to train.

“If you’re familiar with water, that’s quite a progression from a swimming pool to Class Three rapids,” Parrish said.

‘Assess the situation’

Things happen very quickly on the water.

Five to 10 minutes without breathing is all it takes to develop a serious brain injury. It doesn’t take long after that for death.

In those critical, early moments, information is the key. First responders need to know an exact location, how long a person has been in the water, if they have any sort of flotation device, state of consciousness and whether their head is up or down.

All of that helps dictate next steps. Fire departments in the Skykomish Valley have boats, drones, inflatable kayaks and paddleboards and hovercraft. They even use a technique where they stand in the river together to help break up the current and move across together. Sometimes, a responder tied to rope wades into the water while another firefighter anchors them.

But responses take time. Sky Valley has several stations. The nearest to Eagle Falls is in Index. Even so, it can still take several precious minutes to get on scene — and that fully depends on traffic, notoriously bad along U.S. 2.

Response time can also depend on staffing at the time.

For longer-term searches, search and rescue volunteers with the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office will help look for someone who’s gone missing. The county also has a dive team, but it can take time to get them in place.

“When a 9-1-1 call comes out for a water rescue, the closest deputies respond as quickly as possible,” sheriff’s office spokesperson Courtney O’Keefe wrote in an email. “At the same time, fire water rescue teams are responding as well as our dive team. When they arrive on scene, they work quickly to assess the situation and learn where the swimmer was last seen above water.”

Occasionally, first responders on the ground call in a search and rescue helicopter — operated by the sheriff’s office.

Water rescues also tie up resources that might be needed elsewhere. If initial units need support, 20 to 30 people can respond. Responses to car crashes or fires might come from units further away because those close by are busy.

“When we go on these things, we’re really stripping our districts,” Andrews said.

‘Find other places to swim’

Firefighters had numerous pieces of advice on how to stay safe around water.

One of the biggest — and simplest — is wear a life jacket.

Fire stations around the county have a check-in, check-out system for life jackets. Agencies, like Sky Valley Fire, also occasionally get life jacket donations. Last year, Cabela’s donated about 100 to Sky Valley and those went quickly, Andrews said.

Another major piece of advice is to never go in after someone who is drowning. It’s OK to throw a rope or floatation device, but someone drowning will be desperate and could pull would-be rescuers under the water.

In March, two men, aged 21 and 34, died at Eagle Falls. One was taking a photo and fell in. His friend went in after him. They both died.

“We hear stories all the time, someone was in trouble, someone went in after them and now they’re both in trouble,” Andrews said. “Going in usually complicates the issue for us.”

Parrish’s most pressing advice is to know the water you’re going into. He suggested checking in with the local fire department to get an update on river conditions or even just searching online for information.

As for the sheriff’s office, it has its own advice for Eagle Falls.

O’Keefe wrote in an email: “We recommend community members find other places to swim.”

Here’s a dozen other water safety tips:

1. Always swim with a buddy and stay close enough for visual and verbal communication.

2. Have a plan and share it with an adult. Plans should include what time you are leaving, what time you expect to be back and where you’re going. Include what time someone should call 911 if you don’t return.

3. Never swim while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

4. Always bring a personal flotation device with you.

5. Keep kids within arm’s reach. Drowning is the third leading cause of unintentional injury-related death among children 14 and under.

6. Be aware of uneven surfaces, river currents, undertow and changing weather conditions. Lakes and rivers in our state are cold enough to cause drowning by cold water shock — even in the summer months.

7. Don’t dive in. Two-thirds of catastrophic neck injuries occur in open water and the sea.

8. Learn CPR and basic water rescue skills.

9. Make yourself visible to boaters.

10. Stay hydrated.

11. Wear sun protection.

12. Bring the proper equipment with you, including a cell phone in a waterproof bag, a portable light source with extra batteries and whistle.

Jordan Hansen: 425-339-3046; jordan.hansen@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @jordyhansen.