River victim critical

Andy Irvine, 15, receiving care in hospital ICU

A 15-year-old boy who nearly drowned in a tubing accident on the Stillwater River remained in critical condition Friday evening.

Andy Irvine was underwater for 11 to 15 minutes before rescuers could free him.

Irvine was taken to Kalispell Regional Medical Center at about 4:15 p.m. Thursday, where he is in the intensive-care unit.

Irvine and two friends, Sam Kuhlin and Eric Brinton, were tubing down the Stillwater River near Riverside Drive in Evergreen when Irvine was sucked into an underwater snag after his inner tube flipped.

A swift current swept him close to the bank where his life jacket got tangled in the branches of a dead log, holding him under the surface, according to reports.

Kuhlin and Brinton told police they tried to keep their friend's head above water but that he soon lost consciousness.

After trying to free their friend, the two boys ran to a nearby construction site for help. A worker said he went to the river, saw Irvine trapped underwater, and called 911 on a cell phone. The first rescue units arrived just six minutes later. Flathead County Search and Rescue, the Evergreen Fire Department, and the Kalispell police and fire departments responded to the scene.

Irvine was unresponsive when Search and Rescue Coordinator Jordan White pulled him from the water, and paramedics immediately began working on him.

When rescuers were lowered into the river, they found the straps to the boy's life jacket pulled so tight by the current they had to be cut away.

Although the boy's life jacket caught the snag, White told the Inter Lake on Thursday that not wearing a life jacket still is not worth the risk.

"Just like seat belts can occasionally harm when they're intended to do good," White said, "you've got to keep in mind these pieces of safety equipment, in a majority of circumstances, truly do save lives."

Life jackets should be a routine precaution, said Kalispell Fire Department Assistant Chief DC Haas.

"It's always best to wear a life vest, but accidents do happen," he said.

By wearing life vests and going in a group, the boys seemed to be doing everything right, said Flathead County Undersheriff Pete Wingert.

"But it's a dangerous activity," he said. "The river is fast and there are hidden obstacles."

Kuhlin and Brinton told police they had tubed the Stillwater River before, but that it was Irvine's first time.

Andy Irvine is the son of Kalispell Fire Department chaplain Hal Irvine.

Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com