Life jackets can make difference between life and death, officials say

HURRICANE, Utah (ABC4) — With Summer in full swing, more people are heading to Utah’s lakes and reservoirs to cool off. However, with more water-related deaths across the state this year, officials are reminding people that using a life jacket often makes the difference.

As temperatures climb, Sand Hollow State Park is filled with boaters, paddleboarders and swimmers looking to cool off. With more people hitting the water, natural resource officers are reminding visitors to know the rules and make safety a priority.

“This year is looking like one of the deadliest,” resource officer Chris Nelson told ABC4.com. “If you look back far enough, not so far ago, having five fatalities was a whole summer’s worth across multiple different fields of recreation, from hiking and search and rescue operations to OHV and boating, and we’re looking at that now just from boating, and it’s the beginning of June. Not a great start.”

“Every kid 12 and under does have to be wearing a life jacket at all times,” natural resource officer Chad Tarr added. “There needs to be a life jacket for everyone accounted on board of a paddle craft or a vessel at all times as well.”

For Rex Johnson, a local in Southern Utah, life jackets aren’t just for people. He and his wife visit Sand Hollow several times a week and ensure their two dogs wear jackets every time they hit the water, too.

“We were out here one day, and there were a lot of waves, and so she went after a Frisbee but couldn’t see it, and she just kept circling and circling, and it made me nervous. I didn’t know how long she could just circle, so we decided at that point to get them life jackets,” he recounted.

Johnson added that he wishes more people had the same approach. “What I noticed is the people that are out here on the stand up paddleboard, they rarely wear a life jacket. So that kind of makes me nervous,” he said.

Shelly Mackun teaches diving classes at Sand Hollow and said even the most experienced swimmers can find themselves in trouble in the water.

“You get out, and it’s a hundred degrees outside, and you jump in the water, and the water right now is about 74-ish. That’s considered cold water, and especially when your body is overheated, and you jump in, you’re likely to gasp, and as you do that, you’re going to swallow some water,” Mackun said.

She added, “I always have some flotation on because it’s not always just about you that other things can happen. You can get knocked in the head. You can buy a paddle from somebody paddleboarding. You can slip off your paddleboard and fall in the water, and again, that hot air temperature with the cold water temperature can be a deadly mix.”

State officials said that most of this year’s drowning victims were not wearing life jackets and hope more people will make them a normal part of their time on the water this Summer.