APRIL 26, 2015
Body of missing kayaker recovered in Gadsden
Etowah County Coroner Michael Head said Dakota Brett Crandall, 25, was pronounced dead at 11:12 this morning.
Gadsden Assistant Fire Chief Jim Matlock said Crandall's body was found about 300 yards from where he went under Saturday morning while kayaking with relatives.
Crews remained at the creek overnight after rescue efforts yesterday resulted in three injuries and a fatality among members of the Etowah County Rescue Squad.
Matlock said crews walked the creek bank this morning and Crandall's body was spotted about 10:30 a.m. about 25 feet from the bank. It took about 45 minutes to recover the body, as crews with life vests were tied to ropes along the shore and went into the water. The area had a depth of up to 15 feet, he said, but the body was spotted in about five feet of water.
"The water was still pretty unsafe," Matlock said. "It's well above flood stage in some areas."
On Saturday, rescue squad worker Vicky Ryan, 46, died after she and three rescue squad coworkers were injured when two boats capsized during a search on the creek.
Crandall went missing near an old low head dam that was once used to pump water into the Gulf States steel mill nearby.
One of the boats got too close to the dam and was swept over the side. The second boat soon followed and nine Rescue Squad workers were cast into the creek. Members of the Gadsden Fire Department and the Etowah County Sheriff's Office assisted in rescue efforts.
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One man is missing, one rescue worker died and three additional rescue workers were injured this
afternoon in Gadsden at Big Wills Creek during a search.
Gadsden Assistant Fire Chief Robert Maltbie said a
25-year-old man was out kayaking with family members about 11:07 a.m. in Big
Wills Creek near Brooke Avenue when he was swept into the water. The man went
missing near an old low head dam that was once used to pump water into the Gulf
States steel mill nearby, he said.
Members of Gadsden Fire and the Etowah County Rescue Squad
began a search, and employed two rescue boats.
One of the boats got too close to the dam and was swept over
the side. The second boat soon followed and nine Rescue Squad workers were cast
into the creek.
Maltbie said one worker was in critical condition at Riverview
Regional Medical Center with water-related injuries.
One other worker was taken to Riverview, and two more to
Gadsden Regional Medical Center. One worker was swept up into the current with
such force the life jacket was torn off, Maltbie said.
Fire medics have still not located the missing kayaker.
Maltbie said workers will maintain a presence in the area overnight and resume
searching tomorrow, but will not attempt any more recovery efforts tonight.
Water levels were already high at the creek because of
spring rains, which also made the current especially dangerous, Maltbie said.
"It's just been a tragic day," he said.
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RESCUE WORKER DIED IN
BIG WILLS CREEK SEARCH WHEN THE BOAT SHE WAS USING TIPPED OVER
APRIL 26, 2015
Rhonda Turner said her last conversation with Vicky Ryan
Saturday was typical.
The two had known each other for almost 30 years, meeting as
teenagers working at McDonald's. They occasionally styled hair together at
Beauty Ovations Hair Salon.
Ryan called Turner, remembering she had a hair appointment
scheduled. She asked Turner to cover for her. Ryan was working as a volunteer
with the Etowah County Rescue Squad to help find the body of a kayaker
feared drowned in the waters of Big Wills Creek.
"She called me right before she got in that boat,"
Turner said. "She chose not to make money because she wanted to help
somebody. She kept talking about the family of the man who was lost."
Not long after that conversation, Ryan died Saturday,
when the boat she and several other members of the rescue squad was using for
recovery efforts tipped over in the creek, along with another boat. Three other
squad members were injured. Ryan's husband is also a member of the squad.
Turner said Ryan was an outgoing, upbeat woman who enjoyed
quoting Tyler Perry movies, loved to laugh, and spoke incessantly about her
work with the rescue squad.
"She talked about it everyday," Turner said,
saying Ryan was selling raffle tickets just a few days ago.
But she stayed busy in other ways, caring for children or
giving car rides to complete strangers. She would explain by saying, "The
Lord may be looking at me."
"Two weeks ago, she came in joking, saying she was
wondering what they were going to do for dinner, because she gave half her
grocery money away to this woman she met in the store," Turner said.
"The woman didn't have any money for groceries. That's just who Vicky
was."
An education fund has been set up for Ryan's 10-year-old son
through gofundme.com.