Seven teens were rescued from a dam in Pennsylvania, thanks partly to life jackets they borrowed from a nonprofit.
PENNSYLVANIA, USA — Seven paddleboarding teenagers were rescued from a dam in Pennsylvania due, in part, to the life jackets some of them borrowed from a nonprofit.
The group went paddleboarding at the Quemahoning Reservoir, where high winds got them stuck or moving toward the dam spillway, WJAC reported. They were saved after abandoning their boards and waiting for rescue crews to pull them out of the water, officials told media outlets.
The teens ranged in age from 13 to 15, Somerset County Swift Water Rescue Team Manager Scott Grahn told WJAC.
While four had life jackets they brought with them, three borrowed some from nonprofit organization Joey’s Jackets.
The organization was created eight years ago by the mother of 18-year-old Joey Dubics, who drowned at the Quemahoning Dam while paddleboarding without a life jacket.
“From the very beginning, my thought has always been, ‘I don’t want another mother to do what I do each day to survive,'” Joey’s mother, Kristene Dubics, wrote on Facebook when learning about the news. “I will keep doing this as long as I can.”
Those life jackets are what officials are crediting helping rescue the teenagers on Sunday.
“The jackets and the response is probably what saved those kid’s lives,” Grahn told The Tribune-Democrat. “We could have had statistics. We could have had three people that would have lost their lives,” he added to WJAC.
While the area doesn’t see many water rescues — only between eight to 12 in an average year, according to WTAJ — Grahn said weather and water conditions can rapidly change and impact that number. He also highlighted the importance of wearing life jackets no matter your swimming level or confidence.
“The thing you’ve got to realize is you can’t control Mother Nature,” Grahn told WTAJ.