‘Pack the jacket first’: Local river buff shares lifesaving tips after two harrowing summer encounters

Dave Jackson floats the Spokane River at least once a day, usually without encountering very many people. But about two weeks ago, he had to call 911 for the first time in his 10 years on the water.

On June 28, he was cleaning the Airbnb he runs and considered floating the river later in the afternoon but decided to go at his usual time instead. So, at noon, Jackson changed his clothes and loaded his inner tube before going to Peaceful Valley to start his float.

“Nobody was down there, nobody on the river, no one in the parking lot at all,” he said. “I got out into the current and then I looked down the river 50 yards and I saw someone laying in the water with their head basically out of the water.”

Jackson yelled at the person to see if they were alright but got no response.

He said his experiences this summer are a reminder to take safety seriously on the river.

And as the hot weather continues this month, more and more people are likely to take respite in the cold water flowing through the heart of Spokane and Spokane Valley.

When Jackson paddled over to the person in the water, he realized it was a friend of his named Mary Jo. He continued to yell at her to try and get her attention, and except for raising her arm up, she was unresponsive.

“She was kind of in the water, covered up to her neck, laying on the rocks,” Jackson said. “I paddled over towards her … and she opened her eyes, and she was shivering.”

Jackson called 911 after carefully lifting his elderly friend out of the water. He said she had cuts all over her arms and legs, and it looked like she had hurt her back as well.

He was able to start a conversation with her, but she was incoherent. Jackson said the paramedics showed up soon after with a stretcher that looked like a kayak and took her to the hospital.

“I’m not a doctor, but (she had) some kind of episode. I’ve never seen her in the water, and I’ve known her for quite a few years,” Jackson said. “It was very unusual, very strange.”

Jackson said she was recently released from the hospital, and he was thankful he had decided to take his daily float at his usual time, rather than wait until the afternoon to go.

“A little voice, I’m not being religious or spiritual or anything, but something said, ‘Go,’ ” he said.

Eight days after he called 911 to help Mary Jo, he was floating again during the middle of the afternoon when he saw an elderly couple getting into a two-person kayak and was happy to find other people enjoying the beautiful day on the river.

Jackson said kayaks go faster than the inner tube he was using, so he lost sight of the couple. But when he approached a bridge not long after, he saw the kayak had flipped.

Initially, Jackson thought the riders were tied to the kayak and were fine. But as he got closer, he realized the kayak was in an eddy, which is deep water where the river flows in a different direction.

He did not see the bodies of the kayak riders, but he saw a pair of bags, so he called 911 to explain the situation, hoping he would see a person’s hand in the water or feel someone grabbing his leg.

The kayak ended up floating down the current, and as Jackson went to grab it, he saw two people crawling out of the river on some rocks.

He told the couple he would grab their kayak and bags for them and would meet them down the river. When the couple found where Jackson was, he was able to dry off some of the objects in the bags.

Jackson said if the couple had not been wearing life jackets, they might not have been able to make it to the side of the river.

Life jackets are the first thing people should pack when going to the river, and Josh Sampson, Spokane Fire Department station 2 captain, said people should wear it rather than keep it next to them in a kayak or hanging off a tube.

Sampson said things can happen quickly, and people cannot prepare for when they will be dumped in the water.

It’s important for people to know their individual skillsets and a river’s features because experienced kayakers can follow a current other people might not be able to handle, he said.

So, when people decide to float down the river, they should have a good idea of what part of the river they want to be on and know what is downstream, Sampson said.

Lifejackets come in handy if someone does get flipped because the river does not always have banks for people to swim over to, so it is sometimes smarter to float down the river until someone can find an open area, he said.

Jackson said the key is to pack the lifejacket first, and everything else after.

While people might have experience without a lifejacket at a lake, the river is different, and a jacket is more beneficial there than at a lake, he said.

“Everyone goes to the lake on the weekend. You don’t take your jacket, you take your swimsuit and towel,” Jackson said. “As far as the river goes, pack the jacket first.”