They are looking for ways to make the Oswego River safer.
Men fishing on the Oswego River near the Varick power dam.Oswego, NY -- Fishermen and public safety, tourism, business and hydro plant officials plan to meet next week to discuss how to make fishing along the Oswego River safer.
Fire Chief Jeff McCrobi, Oswego County’s tourism director David Turner and Oswego Mayor Randolph Bateman said the group wants to talk in light of two rescues of fishermen in the river in Oswego this week.
One man died and another was critically injured Tuesday and two others had to be pulled to safety after being swept away by rapidly rising waters unleashed by the Brookfield hydropower plant. Thursday, 17 fishermen had to be rescued when the river swollen by rain and storm sewer runoff stranded them on Leto Island.
McCrobie and Turner said the group will focus on safety precautions such as placing throw lines or throw rings along the linear parks that run along the river’s edge.
“What measures can we take to make the Oswego River safer,” Turner said.
Bateman said a fisherman approached him Wednesday and wanted to know if the city could begin certain measures to make the area safer. That gave Bateman the idea for the meeting with fishermen.
Fishermen — from nearby and beyond Central New York — flock to Oswego this time of year as the salmon begin their journey up the river from Lake Ontario.
Fisherman Jared Crimmins, 25, of Scriba, said the fishing has been great. “There were a thousand fish sitting right at your feet,” he said about Tuesday’s conditions.
The fluctuating river levels, though, have not been great for fishermen or emergency workers.
McCrobie said it was highly unusual for his department to have two rescues on the river in one week.
“About 20 years ago, just when the salmon started becoming popular, we’d have a few rescues a week,” he said. “But then things got quiet and we’d have two rescues a year. This week is a little above the normal.”
Tuesday, two men from Chemung County were swept down river toward the harbor when the water level increased quickly. Two companions clung to a sign pole before Oswego city firefighters rescued them.
Fishermen along the west side of the river complained there was no siren from Brookfield’s Varick Hydropower Generation Facility Tuesday to warn them the hydro plant was going to release water into the river. Witnesses said the sirens sounded at 8 a.m. and about 10 a.m., but not near 12:30 p.m. when the four men got into trouble.
One avid river fisherman, Francis Hoefer Jr., of the town of Oswego, said sirens normally go off 15 minutes to 30 minutes before water is released from the plant. Larry Muroski, owner of Larry’s Oswego Salmon Shop, said he keeps tracks of water levels at his shop and the water went up about four feet in about 10 minutes and “washed the four guys down.”
Fishermen complained again Thursday no sirens from the Varick power plant sounded as the water began to rise.
That’s because natural conditions, not a release of water by the Varick plant, caused the water level change, said Julie Smith-Galvin, communications director for Brookfield Renewable Power, which owns and operates the hydropower facility.
The Oswego area received about two inches of rain from midnight through 4 p.m. Thursday. Meteorologist Jon Hitchcock from the National Weather Service in Buffalo was predicting the area likely would receive up to three more inches by day’s end.
“Our alarm system is only triggered when river flows change significantly due to power operations,” said Smith-Galvin. “We encourage everyone on all rivers in the region to be extra cautious, particularly today as the rain will cause flow increases.”
McCrobie agreed the river level increased Thursday because of the rain, including water pouring in from overloaded storm sewers and runoff from oversaturated soil.
Joseph Fregosi, of Mahopac, Putnam County, was fishing in the water with three friends beginning at 6:45 a.m. Thursday. He said the water was up to their waists. But about 11 or so, the water began to rise. Fregosi said there was no siren.
“We were on the rocks parallel to the power dam. I was thinking they better send a boat,” Fregosi said.
Fishermen who were in the water when the level rose got to the small island near the power plant and were safe.
Oswego Fire Chief Jeff McCrobie said 14 firefighters were involved in Thursday’s rescue, with four in the rescue boat shuttling the 17 fishermen stranded out on the small island in the river to shore.
Contact Debra J. Groom at dgroom@syracuse.com, 470-3254 or 251-5586