TORCH LAKE — “We got our marine services, our emergency support team, the sheriff’s departments and marine patrol.”
Law enforcement is out in full force to make sure partygoers remain safe.
“With these large events, you get people that come from all over the United States and other countries here,” said Michigan State Police Lieutenant Scott McManus.
Massive crowds on Torch Lake mean an increase in law enforcement presence to make sure everyone is being safe.
Michigan State Police, the Kalkaska County Sheriff’s office, the Antrim County Sheriff’s office and the Department of Natural Resources are all on high alert with crowds flocking to the water.
“It’s a large sandbar, the depth from ankle deep up to your waist covers a large area. So, there is a drop off. We are concerned with people that are unfamiliar with the sandbar that can get into deep water,” said McManus.
Lieutenant Scott McManus said visitors are a primary concern.
“They’re just unfamiliar with the lake, Torch Lake is very deep, and it is cold. People that aren’t familiar with that do not know how to navigate the water at times, they don’t know where the deep areas are and sometimes there’s currents,” said McManus.
“It’s very clear water, at times the depth of the water can be misinterpreted by some, whether it’s shallow or too deep,” said McManus.
Another concern is the waters’ temperature. It doesn’t match what we’re feeling out of the water.
“For extended time they can certainly experience hypothermia, which will minimize movement of the body. That’s where people generally get into trouble,” said McManus.
Michigan State Police use their mobile command vehicle that has state of the art equipment, allowing them to view any accidents that could happen in crowded areas.
Here’s how it works.
“When a call comes in for help, we can actually look out with the camera and zoom out there and see what’s going on,” said Michigan State Police Sergeant Korey Rowe. “The advantage we have with the truck is it brings our dispatchers here to the scene, instead of having them somewhere else at a county dispatch center where they really can’t see what’s going on. Now, the dispatcher can look out, see what the actual incident is ahead of time, and relay that information to an officer or medical personnel that might be responding.”