Community Corner

Summer Splash-Tacular on Lake Tapps Emphasizes Water Safety

The 8th annual summer Splash-Tacular took place on Lake Tapps Saturday; a second event is scheduled for August 10 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Allan Yorke Park.

Information provided by East Pierce Fire and Rescue

Amid the sun bathers, boaters and barbeque enthusiasts, firefighters and staff from East Pierce Fire and Rescue gathered at the Pierce County Park on Lake Tapps Saturday for the annual summer Splash-Tacular. Since 2006, the fire department, in cooperation with the Bonney Lake Police Department and Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, has been sponsoring the free event aimed at improving water safety awareness.

Children and adults stopped by to play games that tested their water safety knowledge, spray water from a real fire hose and talk on the underwater radio to a one of the East Pierce Fire and Rescue Water Rescue Team divers.

This year, a second Summer Splash-Tacular event is planned for Saturday, August 10, from 1 to 4 p.m. at Allan Yorke Park, in Bonney Lake.

The free event highlights safety measures children and their families can take while on or near open water, such as Lake Tapps. “Every year, 74 percent of the children in Washington who drown, lose their lives in open water such a lake,” says East Pierce Public Education Specialist Dina Sutherland. “Many of the victims were merely sitting or playing near the water when they drown.”

East Pierce personnel provide information and answer questions about the dangers of cold water incapacitation and carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning, two particular concerns for swimmers and boaters on Lake Tapps.

The firefighters will also stress the importance of wearing a life jacket. East Pierce Fire and Rescue sponsors a Life Jacket Loaner Program that includes a kiosk at both parks on Lake Tapps. The kiosks provide loaner life jackets to anyone who needs them. “We only ask that you return them to the kiosk when you are finished so others may use them,” Sutherland says. “The program was established, so there would be no excuse not to have a life jacket.”

Free loaner life jackets in infant, child, youth and adult sizes are also available throughout the summer at the headquarters station for East Pierce Fire and Rescue, 18421 Veterans Memorial Drive East. A valid driver's license is required to receive a loner jacket.

East Pierce Fire and Rescue thanks Eagle Scout candidate Chris Marks, 17, for the two, new kiosks that house loaner life jackets at both parks on Lake Tapps. Marks took on the project as part of his Eagle Scout requirements, giving the Allan Yorke Park kiosk a much-needed face lift and building an all-new self-serve kiosk for the Pierce County Park at North Lake Tapps.

The Sumner High School junior spent three months developing the plans and completing the project. Supplies were donated by the Bonney Lake Home Depot.


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