Crews Battle Elements In Recovery Effort

by Jill Johnson
March 15, 2013 7:04 PM


What was once a mission of hope, turned into something much more bleak at around 2 a.m. Friday morning. Sioux Falls Fire Rescue knew it was unlikely they would find 16-year-old Madison Wallace alive.

Chief Jim Sideras says, "A lot of times people will be able to survive, submerged in water for a couple of hours but we passed that. The operation started at 6 o'clock."

But still they continue their efforts to find 28-year-old Lyle Eagle Tail. Their focus has been near the Pedestrian Bridge by the Falls Overlook Cafe, where the two went in to save 6-year-old Garrett Wallace.

Sideras says, "That's where we're bordered in at and that's where we are confident that we'll find them."

But it hasn't been easy. The current is creating a runoff or a foam, in some areas 10 feet deep. They're watering that down, so they are able to see the ice beneath it.

Sideras says, "The problem is we had to break up a lot of this ice. and the ice is creating a lot of poblems for us so we had to bring in some special equipment to break up the ice."

When the ice is cleared, divers are able to go in the water. On Friday, they had four divers working in teams of two. There was also a boat in the water searching for the second body below.