Officials urge river safety after tragedy

By NICHOLAS LEDDEN

Boy's family hopes others will learn from his death

The Daily Inter Lake

Flathead County's first water-related death of the year has authorities urging residents to observe proper safety precautions on area rivers and creeks this summer.

Andy Irvine, 14, and two friends were tubing on Stillwater River near Riverside Drive in Evergreen on Thursday afternoon when he 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 tree, holding him under the water's surface.

He suffered extensive brain damage from lack of oxygen before rescuers could free him from the snag, and he died in Kalispell Regional Medical Center's intensive care unit early Saturday morning.

At the time of the accident, Andy was doing everything right, rescuers said. He was wearing a life jacket and went with friends who already had experience floating the river.

"It was one of those things," said Flathead County Search and Rescue Coordinator Jordan White, who pulled Andy from the river. "No matter how much you prepare or how well equipped you are, there is always the potential for accidents."

That accidents like Irvine's do still happen, despite the use of proper safety measures, only highlights the need to stress caution, White said.

"Water is unforgiving," said White. "It will get you into the most trouble the quickest."

Authorities recommend that people tubing Flathead County's rivers this summer be over 12 years old and good swimmers. Water shoes and protective helmets are a good idea, especially if the river is swift and rocky.

Wear a properly fitting life jacket, always.

Go with a group so that if someone gets into trouble another person can go for help. It's also a good idea to bring a throw line in case somebody gets stuck in an area of the river too dangerous for another person to enter.

Steer away from fallen trees and try to navigate down the middle of the river, which usually has the deepest running water and fewest obstacles.

If someone does fall in, use the tube as a flotation device. It can also be used as a cushion against foreign objects.

Don't try to stand in water more than knee deep, and float feet-first downstream while maneuvering toward the bank.

Prepare for the weather and know the river. Bring sunscreen and stay hydrated.

But the primary way to stay safe while tubing area rivers is to anticipate the dangers, White said.

"If you do have a problem on the water," White said, "know how to get help. Have a contingency plan."

Andy became trapped in the underwater snag soon after he and his two friends, Sam Kuhlin and Eric Brinton, entered the river at Lawrence Park.

Kuhlin told police he tried to keep his friend's head above water but that Irvine soon lost consciousness.

After trying to free their friend, Brinton 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 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 Andy's life jacket pulled so tight by the current they had to be cut away.

Kuhlin and Brinton told police they had tubed the Stillwater River before, but that it was Irvine's first time. Irvine had, however, been rafting in the Middle Fork and up near Essex, said his father, Hal Irvine.

"If he was alive today and those two boys asked him to go tubing again, both [his mother] and I would let him," Irvine said.

Everyone involved in the accident did everything they could to either prevent it from happening or fix it after it did, said Irvine, chaplain with the Kalispell Fire Department.

"Andy did everything right, the kids who were with him did everything right, the firemen and rescuers did everything right and the physicians and nurses at the hospital and ICU did everything right," he said.

Irvine said he hopes people will take something meaningful from his son's death.

"We do live in an environment with water and I sure hope that Andy's the last one, but I have a feeling it will happen again," he said. "We hope [Andy's death] will be able to help somebody."

Andy Irvine was a kid who enjoyed playing the drums, golfing, and hanging out with his friends, his father said. He died just three days short of his 15th birthday.

Irvine, a pastor at Glacier Church, also said he knows there was some higher purpose to his son's death.

"It was just a series of events that at a human level seems like an accident," Irvine said. "But we deeply believe there's a spiritual reality that's taking place here."

"The most important part of his life was that he had a relationship with Christ, and that's why we have peace," he added.

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