Following the death of Zach Hines-Rager, who jumped from a railroad trestle bridge into the Chehalis River last week and reportedly drowned after struggling from cold water shock, people are urging officials to invest in education that could prevent similar deaths.
A change.org petition started by Hines-Rager’s cousin, Courtney Amaryllis, urging Lewis, Thurston, Pierce and King county sheriff’s offices, the state Department of Health, Gov. Jay Inslee and U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler to help erect signage near cold-water recreation sites educating the public on the dangers of cold water shock received 745 signatures within the first 24-hours it was live.
As of press time Monday afternoon, the petition had 933 signatures.
“I am prepared to take it to our Legislature if needed,” Amaryllis said in an email. “It will save the county money on searches and rescues in the future and save lives of young people in the community.”
Hines-Rager and three friends were reportedly on the Willapa Hills Trail crossing the Chehalis River on March 23 when they went onto a railroad trestle bridge and Hines-Rager reportedly told his friends that he wanted to jump in — which is something he had done before.
“It’s not a super uncommon thing either,” said Dusty Breen, chief of the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Field Operations Bureau, adding that the bridge is a popular recreation site during the warm weather months.
Hines-Rager jumped in, resurfaced and had started swimming to the bank when he called out to his friends for help due to the cold temperature of the water.
One of his friends got in the water and reached Hines-Rager — but also began to struggle due to the cold water. The friend safely made it back to shore, but during the swim, Hines-Rager had reportedly gone “limp” and slipped out of his friend’s grasp.
Searches to locate and recover his body have been called off due to a lack of available resources and ongoing dangerous conditions on the Chehalis River.
Hines-Rager is believed to have drowned due to cold-water shock, which is a physical response to sudden immersion in cold water that can occur in water up to 77 degrees Fahrenheit, but is most common in water 59 degrees or colder.
When the body is immersed in cold water, there’s a large gasp followed by an increase in heart rate and faster breathing, which in itself can lead to drowning within the first three minutes of immersion, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. After three minutes — potentially less, depending on how cold the water is — the body begins to lose motor skills and experience the onset of hypothermia and a loss of cognitive function. And the act of swimming increases the body’s cooling rate by up to 40%, making those symptoms worse and decreasing the victim’s ability to rescue themselves.
“The body starts shutting down,” said Breen. “It’s too cold to function.”
Breen said it’s not uncommon for people to want to return to popular water recreation sites as soon as the sun starts to come out — but National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data recorded in Longview, Tacoma and Seattle show that average water temperatures in Western Washington don’t typically reach 50 degrees Fahrenheit until mid-April at the earliest.
Amaryllis’ petition calls for signage educating potential swimmers about cold water shock and Washington’s water temperatures.
“This signage should be different than any others previously forbidding jumping or swimming. It should include education,” reads the petition. “We must post signage that grabs their attention and encourages them to think twice.”
The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office provides water safety education and demonstrations at community events to educate the community and youth on the dangers of cold water and associated drownings, Breen said. The state also provides signage with similar warnings for boat launches and other waterways.
According to Breen, it would be county facilities’ offices — not sheriff’s offices — that would be responsible for erecting additional signage.
The Willapa Hills Trail and the railroad trestle bridge where Hines-Ragers is believed to have drowned are maintained by Washington State Parks, which is not specifically named in the petition and could not be reached for comment by press time.
The petition is accessible online at http://chng.it/FXjPTPHs.
