Rescue personnel free boat caught on Cedar River Dam by Charles City Main Street Bridge

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

A wide range of emergency responders responded to a boat being stranded on the edge of the Cedar River dam above the Main Street Bridge in Charles City Monday afternoon.

The owner said he had tied up the boat at the small landing by the county courthouse parking lot, and when he turned back he saw the boat had pulled away from the landing.

No persons were on the boat when it pulled away from its mooring and got caught on the dam.

The owner said he thought about going into the water after the board, then decided against the risk.

“I got insurance …” he said.

Two Charles City firefighters, Lt. Justin Schuttler and Landon Luft, put on their cold water gear and walked out on the lower ledge of the dam to grab the line attached to the front of the boat, tie it to another rope then take that rope over to the Mill Race Park observation area on the north riverbank, where other emergency responders were able to grab the rope.

They took the rope down the riverbank to near the Pub on the Cedar, where the Floyd County Search and Rescue truck pulled up and parked. The rope was attached to the truck’s winch line and the boat was pulled back from the dam to the north riverbank, where Luft hopped in and drove it back to the courthouse landing.

The number of responders was due as much to the location and their availability, as it was to a need for more than several helping hands, but it included the Charles City Fire Department, Floyd County Search and Rescue, Charles City Police Department, Floyd County Sheriff’s Office, AMR ambulance service, Iowa State Patrol, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Floyd County Emergency Management Agency and Iowa Underwater Search and Rescue, according to Fire Chief Sam Deverell.