Recovery efforts were unsuccessful today. Those who pledged to be there did what they said they would with a valiant, sustained effort. Air Idaho Rescue also came again today.

We’d like to explain and update on some of the operational side of our efforts. To start, there were (2) likely scenarios at the time of the accident.

Scenario 1) Jayden stayed in his neoprene chest waders with attached rubber boots. That would make his feet highly buoyant in comparison to his body and create a sensation that his ankles had life jackets on them but the rest of his body didn’t. Upon a drowning event, it would likely leave him still buoyant on or near the surface with the boots remaining the most buoyant part of him. The current and wind would then have either an antagonistic, null, or overlapping effect on one another—depending on the wind direction. With those variables and an infinite number of outcomes from them, there is very little ability to project a location to focus efforts.

The best technique available for this scenario is utilizing any shoreline or extremely low areas as a possible collection point and visually searching these areas with the naked eye, drones, low flying aircraft, helicopters, and by boat near the water’s edge. All techniques have been used and overlapped as much as possible. This approach will continue.

Scenario 2) At the time of the accident, Jayden was freed from his neoprene chest waders. Upon a drowning event, he would become more dense than the water and sink to the bottom while being affected by any current and water conditions on his decent and any of those conditions still present near the bottom. This is the information we received and originally acted on, but the waders were never seen or recovered.

The techniques used for this scenario are overlapping passes (think of mowing and then even cross mowing your lawn) with multiple boats and all things sonar and then diving in the freezing waters on any imagery or “targets” that lends itself to being a possibility. Side Scan is a specialized sonar technology that is relied upon. A stock image is in today’s photos to illustrate its effectiveness. These techniques were applied in close proximity of the location of the accident and have now been applied in a more broad approach.

We will continue tomorrow again with a similar plan with joint efforts from Bingham SO and SAR Teams, Power County SAR, and an added Cadaver K9 provided by US Fish and Wildlife.

We are experiencing an ice shelf on the southern portion of the Reservoir, especially the east side. We are also operating in 1,000’s of acres of water that is only 1-3 feet deep.

We as an agency can’t express our gratitude enough to our surrounding partners, our dedicated staff, the dedicated professionals of our fantastic Search and Rescue Team, and the community we all have the pleasure to serve. We value getting close with the Jensen family and our hearts go out to them during this difficult time. They joined us for meals today after they too put the work in. They are a strong, humble, and determined group of people.

Thanks again Bingham County and thanks to Tooleys for the breakfast burritos, Bingham Healthcare for getting us Dominoes Pizza clear to the Command Post, and Texas Roadhouse for closing the day out fueled for tomorrow.