BILLINGS — Stories about multiple rescues this past weekend at a Yellowstone River water intake in Laurel have residents throughout the valley wondering why there aren't more protections, such as gates, to prevent these types of accidents.
In Billings, the Public Works Department is ensuring that a similar incident, where a kayaker was sucked into an intake, would never happen.
"It would be very unlikely that someone would get underneath that," said Louis Engels, the superintendent for Billings water quality.
Engels is confident that the current deflector on the city's water intake in south Billings would prevent anyone from getting sucked in.
"It's not a significant risk to somebody being pulled into our intake. Because, again, it's not as much water, and we have that deflector gate that would keep people out," Engels said.
On Saturday in Laurel, kayaker Torben Fox told MTN News he feared for his life after he was unexpectedly swept into the intake while on the water.
"There was a very calm moment where I was like, 'I'm going to die here, so I got to do something,'" he said.
Fox survived with cuts and bruises. But, the incident has him, and others, wondering why it ever happened in the first place.
The biggest difference between the Laurel intake that Fox was stuck in, and the Billings water intake, is the speed of the current. The Billings intake is significantly wider, meaning it is a less powerful force.
Matt Wheeler, the director of Laurel's Public Works, believes that the height of the river could affect this pressure as well.
"When the water is as low as it is now, a lot more of it is directed, or it tends to pull people towards that particular structure," he says.
Wheeler says the city of Laurel does not operate the problem intake. Instead, it feeds the large irrigation canal that runs all the way to Shepherd. Laurel officials say it's managed by the Billings Bench Water Association (BBWA).
"I believe the only time the city of Laurel is called, is when people are in trouble (down there), would be emergency services," said Wheeler.
MTN originally spoke to the BBWA on the phone Tuesday, when a representative said it was not their jurisdiction. After MTN confirmed with the city of Laurel and other sources that the BBWA owns the intake, we left multiple messages both by phone an in person seeking an interview for this story, but those messages were no returned.
