GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – On Fourth of July, thousands of people packed Joe Pool Lake for a day with family and friends.
The crowds can present challenges for the Grand Prairie police and fire departments, which stepped up their presence on the lake Wednesday.
“We’re just looking for any unsafe things that are happening on the lake,” said Lt. Kevin Baker, a veteran of the Grand Prairie Fire Department dive team. “If we see something that’s unsafe, we’ll pull up to the boaters and talk to them and explain to them why it’s unsafe.”
The police and fire department dive teams each had two boats in the water, checking for life jackets and safety concerns, and ready to respond when people need help.
WFAA spent a few hours riding along on one of those boats with two veteran members of the dive team.
They showed us the lake's most crowded areas, filled with swimmers, jet skiers and boaters. In a swimming area, crowds waved and cheered, and the fire department sprayed them with water from a hose in the front.
Just before 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, the fire department dive team received a possible drowning call. They were able to respond quickly because they were already out on the lake.
When they arrived at the scene, they said bystanders had pulled two people from the water. The victims were alert and talking, but they were taken to the hospital as a precaution.
“This lake at one time was considered to be one of the most dangerous lakes in Texas,” said Baker.
Just a few years ago, drownings in Joe Pool Lake hit double digits, which prompted the city to increase the dive team’s visibility on the lake.
Now, the police and fire dive teams patrol the lake every summer weekend and holiday, and drownings have dropped drastically since.
“With us already being on the lake, it cuts our responses time down by about five minutes,” said Baker. “If you’re in the water without a floatation device, five minutes could be the difference between you going home that night or not going home that night.”
As of Wednesday afternoon, the Grand Prairie fire department had received five possible drowning calls at Joe Pool Lake so far this summer. Of those, one was fatal, and happened mid-week, when the fire department was not on the lake for a faster response, said Baker.
The fire department planned to patrol the lake until about 9 p.m. on July 4.