BEDFORD, Va. – Three people out fishing along the James River around 1 a.m. Friday called Bedford's Fire and Rescue for help. Their boat had capsized near the Holcomb Rock Power
Plant.
"It's a section of the river that we don't normally respond to swift water incidents. It's pretty still in that area. The water had rose about 4 feet in the evening hours," said Monty Coleman, the battalion chief special operations for Bedford County Fire and Rescue.
The group got caught in a pile of debris; one person fell out and the other two stayed at the higher end of the boat.
"The water conditions can change very rapidly, especially with all the rain we've had in the commonwealth lately, and that's what happened this morning. We're very lucky it was a successful rescue and had no fatalities," Coleman said.
Amherst and Monelison rescue crews were called in for backup. Entering from the Monacan Park side in Amherst County wasn't an easy job for rescue crews. They said they could barely see down the river.
"Maybe half a mile, we came into some real bad fog. We could probably only see 15 to 20 feet in front of the boat and my fear was we were going to encounter a rock that was above water," said Joey Malott, the fire chief of the Monelison Fire Department.
It took rescue crews almost two hours to get everyone back to shore safely. Officials said there is a lesson in this for everyone: when river levels are still rising, stay off the water.
"There's a lot of debris in the river right now and so you just gotta be cautious. If you got something else to do this weekend, give it another weekend, let conditions get back to normal Give it another weekend and let things get back to normal," Coleman said.
Officials said the victims who were rescued refused EMS treatment.
Rescue officials advise people going out on the river to have a flotation device, and to make sure someone knows you'll be out on the water and what time you'll be home.