By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
One man is dead after he was pulled from the water following an outing on a boat at Mayfield Lake.
Aid and deputies were called about 11:15 a.m. today to an area near Ike Kinswa Park at the northwest portion of the lake.
Firefighters from Mossyrock rescued one man off a small island while members of the Salkum fire department responded to a second man on the shore at the park, according to Lewis County Fire District 3 Chief Doug Fosburg.
The second man didn’t make it, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff’s Cmdr. Steve Aust said the pair had stopped on the island and while there, the 12-foot boat began to drift away so one of the men jumped into the lake to go after it.
The water is very, very cold, Aust said.
His companion saw he was in distress and attempted to get to him, but had to turn back because of the cold temperatures, Aust said.
A park employee on the shore was able to retrieve the boat and then the man, Aust said.
Fosburg said one was transported to Morton General Hospital and the other to Providence Centralia Hospital. He described the individual picked up from the island as hypothermic.
No names were released.
Aust said today was the first day of fishing season, so they may have been fishing, but he didn’t know for sure.
Initial reports are the men are from Lewis County, and the deceased is 35 years old, but that wasn’t yet confirmed, Aust said.