Life jackets are disappearing from Grapevine lake parks due to alleged theft, causing frustration in the city, according to NBC 5.
The Grapevine Fire Department provides loaner life jackets to visitors in the parks to stop drownings and promote water safety among North Texans, The Dallas Express reported last month.
The loaner program was implemented in honor of James McKenzie, a Grapevine paramedic and firefighter who drowned in the lake in 2016.
For the past five summer seasons, six Grapevine Lake park locations have loaned life jackets, ranging in sizes from children to adults.
Samantha Buhler, the senior program director for YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas, cautioned that the murky waters common to lakes and rivers add to their risk.
“I think people don’t realize how murky lakes can get,” stated Buhler to NBC 5. “With lakes and rivers and all that, you also have currents, so you just don’t know. Just because you go under in one spot doesn’t mean that’s the spot that that person’s in. Because the water is so murky, you’re not going to be able to locate that person, which is why the life jackets are so important for everybody.”
The community depends on donations to provide new life jackets for lake visitors who do not already have one. The lifesaving initiative will have to be discontinued if the alleged thefts — primarily adult-size life jackets — continue, according to the city.
Grapevine requests that individuals return their life jackets so everyone can access them.
Drowning was to blame for 79% of fatalities on recreational boats in 2019, and 86% of individuals who drowned were not wearing life jackets, according to statistics from the United States Coast Guard.
The loaner life jacket program is available from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend, according to the Grapevine Texas website.
