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Fire Chief: Stay off the lake mud




JACKSONTOWN – Licking Township Fire Company Chief Mike Wilson received a very unusual distress call April 17: Someone was stuck in the mud up to his waist about 20 to 24 feet offshore near Avondale. The person had a metal detector.

“It looked like they were in there working,” Wilson said. “We had to improvise.” He said four people were tugging on the man to remove him from the deep mud. “He wasn’t coming out,” Wilson said. Fortunately, the man was close enough to a boat hoist that responders fashioned a harness out of a boat strap and wound it around the man. The electric hoist had enough power to pull the man slowly from the mud at an eight feet angle, unharmed.

Wilson said the incident raised a serious and unexpected safety issue with people venturing onto the mud now that the water level is down so far to expose much of the shoreline beneath docks around the lake and many of the canals are dry.

ODNR has drained Buckeye Lake to its newly defined winter pool, where it will remain for years as the state prepares to replace the lake’s 177-year-old earthen dam at a cost up to $150 million. ODNR officials claim leaving the lake at winter pool reduces pressure on the dam, which an Army Corps of Engineers report said is in danger of breach. It’s estimated the entire repair process will take five or more year to complete.

In the meantime, said Wilson, “This is not a time to be out relic hunting. There could be lots of serious complications.” He said the person in the April 17 incident was very lucky he was close to the shore, close to boat winch, and was only in the mud up to his waist and not his chest; a person in the mud up to his or her chest could suffocate. Also, Wilson said emergency responders would have a very hard time reaching someone who is many yards out from shore.

Wilson said the mud in the lakebed is “very much like quicksand.” Becoming stuck in it is very easy to do. “It’s what happens,” he said. “It’s just not something you should be doing; just don’t go out there.”

Wilson said it’s extremely important to immediately call 9-1-1 if you see someone stuck in the mud. “Don’t try to make a rescue yourself,” he said. “It’s dangerous out there.”

Wilson said no one knows how many holes are in the lakebed filled with mud. A person could very easily sink to his or her chest, or even become completely submerged in mud. “I can’t tell you how deep it is,” he said.



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