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Cowlitz Dive and Rescue diver Sack Eatherton helps pull 11-year-old Gretchen Goodrich from the Cowlitz River near Castle Rock after she and a 5-year-old boy slipped from the inner tube they were playing on in 2015. Authorities suggest always wearing a life jacket on the river. 

At least four bodies were pulled from local Southwest Washington rivers between July 29 and Aug. 6, and another, unidentified body was recovered from the Cowlitz River this month.

With temperatures hitting above 90 degrees earlier this week, agencies are reminding people to be careful and safe when trying to cool off in local waters.

Cowlitz County Coroner Tim Davidson said the identity and cause of death of the unidentified body are still being determined because of how long the person was in the water.

Alejandro Ismael Lopez Ramirez, 28, and Elmer Ronaldo Lopez Ramierz, 26, of Longview disappeared on Aug. 6 while swimming in the Columbia River near Vista Park in Wahkiakum County. They were recovered almost a week later after days of searching by their family and Wahkiakum County and Cowlitz County authorities.

On Tuesday the Cowlitz County Coroner’s Office identified the body pulled from the Cowlitz River on Aug. 10 as Jesse Ray Hughes, 32, of Kelso and stated he went missing on Aug. 3. Five days earlier, Miguel Soto, 20, of Toledo drowned in the Chehalis River near the railroad trestle on the Willapa Hills Trail off Highway 603.

Davidson said Hughes was the second drowning in Cowlitz County this year and the first this summer. Over the past few years, Davidson said the number of drownings each year in the county fluctuates between one and five.

First responders in Cowlitz County said summer is always the busiest time for water rescues because more people are out recreating or trying to escape the heat. Three of the four deaths occurred on weekends when the local temperature were forecasted above 90 degrees.

“While people think that, in these areas during the 90-degree days, the water in our area becomes warm, that is not the case. It’s still cold,” Cowlitz 2 Fire & Rescue Deputy Chief Jason Sanders said.

The Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office is frequently dispatched to calls with possible drownings because they are one of the few rescue agencies with their own boat. Chief Criminal Deputy Troy Brightbill said the most dangerous sections of rivers are areas of the Cowlitz and Columbia where silt and debris create varied depth from year to year.

“In some areas where dredging has occurred along the Columbia River, the slope underwater may have changed dramatically from previous years. People who swam there before don’t realize there is such a deep drop-off,” Brightbill said.

Cowlitz 2 Fire & Rescue responded to four possible drownings in 2022, three from sections of the Cowlitz River and one from the Columbia River near Willow Grove Park. Sanders said Cowlitz 2 crews are trained to make rescues from the shoreline.

Brightbill and Sanders said the best safety measure on the river is to wear a life jacket or have them easily accessible for people on boats. The two recommended people don’t swim alone and other people near the water keep an eye out for potential rescues.

For more pressing emergency water rescues, Cowlitz County will call on the volunteers who make up the county’s Dive Rescue Team. Brightbill said the dive team has been deployed roughly eight times this year, including during the Vista Park search.

“It can be very dangerous if there is debris underwater or low visibility. It is a specialized field of work for dive recovery and we do appreciate the work these volunteers do,” Brightbill said.

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Cowlitz Dive and Rescue diver Sack Eatherton helps pull 11-year-old Gretchen Goodrich from the Cowlitz River near Castle Rock after she and a 5-year-old boy slipped from the inner tube they were playing on in 2015. Authorities suggest always wearing a life jacket on the river. 

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