Tulsa Water Rescue Team Warns That Low Arkansas River Levels Can Be Misleading

Tulsa Fire said it typically takes the water rescue boat out of the station about 100 times a year, but sometimes, they can't always launch the boat into the water to save the victim due to the water levels.

Some days, looking at the Arkansas River from Downtown Tulsa, it looks more like a barren wasteland, but for the folks who go out into the water, they may learn that isn't the case.

"They're not sure about how fast it's moving or actually how deep it is, so people will venture out in there, get in over their heads, and require us to come to rescue them," said Wes Lightle, a captain with the Tulsa Fire Department who also serves on the water rescue team.

He said, just like a fire response, time is precious.

"With water it's a very limited time, just like a house fire, it's a very limited time to achieve and have a successful rescue," he said. 

Lightle said the state of the river can change, just like the weather in Oklahoma.

"Some days it'll look like a desert out there and other days you know the water is high and moving extremely fast," he said.

So, the crews need to be prepared for any type of rescue, all year long.

"We carry our ropes, our dry suits which we use here in the winter, and our wetsuits which we'll use sometimes during the summer," Lightle said. 

Oftentimes, the calls that come in are for people who live out in the elements, "with the increased homeless population, sometimes they will be in the river either bathing or there's a lot of homeless encampments along the river, they fall in accidentally so our response for that community is year-round," he said. 

The team typically sees an increase in rescues in the summer, "simply because of the warmer weather, people are trying to cool off," said Lightly, and with a new white-water park opening on the river.

Lightle said they're expecting even more response calls to come in.

Tulsa Fire does have two response boats that can be launched into the water during search and rescue. Sometimes they are launched separately to catch someone downstream, other times they are launched together to cover more ground and perform faster rescues.