JEFFERSON - Just hours after the Albany Fire Department held a water rescue training exercise with several Santiam-area agencies, those skills were tested during two weekend river incidents.

Water rescue teams from the Jefferson Fire District, Albany Fire Department and Linn County Sheriff's Office rescued six people from the North Santiam River early Sunday evening, the Jefferson Fire Department reported.

The names of those saved have not been released.

Responders originally were dispatched to two people trapped on a logjam. Four others were found during the rescue.

Josh DeVos and his parents Al and Dea DeVos were fishing when innertubers told them about two people trapped on an island. The family investigated and found that a husband and wife who had been canoeing had been swept out and trapped on a logjam.

While en route to the original rescue, Albany responders came across an innertuber who had been stuck on another logjam.

While the agencies were responding to the people in trouble, three more people were swept off their innertubes and rescued. They got stuck in the same logjam as the original call. Only one person out of the six was wearing a life jacket.

The Linn County Sheriff's Office rescued six people Saturday from a similar area on the river. No one was wearing life jackets.

There are at least two areas on the North Santiam River near Jefferson where people drifting the river are running into trouble, said Elaine Parrott, spokeswoman for Jefferson Fire.

It is mostly people in innertubes without life jackets that are having problems, she said. People in drift boats or boats with motors appear to be getting through just fine.

Democrat-Herald