3 Deaths at Lake Prompt Calls for Tougher Safety Rules, More Patrols : Laws Allow Children as Young as 12 to Operate Motorized Boats

With the boating season just moving into high gear, three people have already died in accidents at Pyramid Lake, a popular recreation spot 35 miles northwest of the San Fernando Valley.

Some people, citing cutbacks in lake patrols and permissive laws that allow almost anyone, regardless of age or ability, to operate boats, say the tragedies were not unexpected.

“People I’ve talked to say they don’t even go up to that lake anymore because it’s dangerous,” said Brenda Emery, 33, of Canyon Country. “It’s out of control.”

Emery’s friend Albert Sifuentes, 22, died April 30 when his motorized water ski collided with a fishing boat driven by a man who was later charged with reckless boating. Two other people died the same day when an unexpectedly high wake sank their boat.

Under state and federal laws, a child as young as 12 can legally operate a motorized boat at a publicly owned lake. “If you’re 12 years old, you can drive anything on this lake unsupervised, and a lot of them have no idea what the rules of the road are,” said Paul Hardy, one of two sheriff’s deputies who patrol the lake.

Regulations are lax, he said, because the “government looks at this as a recreational sport and they don’t want to interfere with your right to have a good time.”

But Hardy said better training of boaters would go a long way toward reducing dangers at the lake.

Boaters are often not as familiar as they should be with safety equipment, he said. On a recent weekend patrol, most of the boaters he and partner Mark Shoemaker encountered had no formal training. One man who was stopped had a warning flag of the wrong color and a life jacket too large for the youngest child on board.

“The ski flag, that’s negotiable,” Hardy told the man. “The life jacket with him, that’s not negotiable.”

Emery is circulating a petition calling for tougher rules. She wants required safety education for boaters, paramedics assigned to lake duty and motorized water skis restricted to one area.

The petition also asks that more deputies be assigned to patrol the lake. At one time, six deputies had that duty, but because of budget cuts that number is down to two.

“If they can’t afford more patrols, then they should only allow a certain number of people there,” Emery said.

Because of work obligations, Emery said, she has not had much time to circulate the petition. But she said most lake users are willing to sign it, with the exception of one group. “Jet Skiers are the ones who don’t want to sign the petition, because they don’t want to be restricted to a certain area,” she said.

Some of Emery’s requests are already being considered, according to sheriff’s officials.

Hardy said the Sheriff’s Department has developed a proposal to put some separation between motorized water skis and boats.

“We’re looking into possibly segregating or buoying a portion of the lake just for Jet Skis and buoying an area just for boats, but still leaving the middle part of the lake for Jet Skis and boats,” he said.

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The department has requested an application for a grant under the federal crime bill to fund four additional deputies at the lake, said Lt. Bob Elson of the Santa Clarita Valley sheriff’s station.

He said the added deputies would perform safety inspections on arriving watercraft, patrol the lake and beach areas, and assist during rescues.

But the federal grants require that the county provide matching funds, noted Michael Quinn, captain of the Santa Clarita station, and right now the county is planning on cutting rather than increasing the sheriff’s budget.

Hardy and Shoemaker patrol Pyramid Lake together about eight hours on weekend days and holidays, during which the lake is open from 6 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

The deputies patrol separately two weekdays each week, leaving one day during which the lake is unsupervised.

Shoemaker said he and Hardy are trained emergency medical technicians, but in a life-threatening situation it takes about 45 minutes for a helicopter to come to the lake and take an injured person to a hospital.

“We’re in the middle of nowhere,” he said.

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Pyramid Lake Opened: 1974 Size: 1,400 surface acres, 20 miles of shoreline Primary use: Drinking water source for San Fernando Valley Recreational uses: Water sports, fishing, swimming Visitors a year: 200,000