DELPHOS — As the saying goes, all’s well that ends well. Delphos residents were put on high alert looking for three children in the Auglaize River.
The drama unfolded at about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday when the Allen County Sheriff’s Office dispatched a call to Delphos Fire Department of three boys in the water in the 200 block of East Suthoff Street at Flat Fork Creek. Upon the Fire Department’s arrival, the three boys were on the bank beside the water. It was believed there were three to four other boys who had possibly been swept away.
At that time, the Delphos Fire Department along with the Delphos Police Department went on high alert. These agencies notified the Allen County Sheriff’s Office, Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, Ohio State Highway Patrol including an aircraft, Allen and Van Wert County Homeland Security and Emergency Management authorities, Fort Jennings Police Department, Fort Jennings Fire Department, West Central Ohio Crime Task Force and other Delphos City employees.
“We had a lot of people looking for these kids,” Delphos Assistant Police Chief Ryan Kimmet said.
At about 2:30 p.m., the search was called off after officers spoke with witnesses in the area. It was determined that the three boys who were originally located at the scene were the only three who had been in that water. The search for any other missing children was called off. No injuries were reported.
The incident was a great reminder to everyone to not cross through rising waters.
“We stress to folks never go into any type of water that’s swollen due to storms. The amount of rain that we have received over the past 36 hours, I think we’re close to a little over 4 inches in that area, when you have that amount of water, it’s trying to get to the Auglaize River and it all kind of runs through the little creeks and stuff and it just picks up volume and speed as it makes its way to the river,” said Tom Berger, director of the Allen County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. “People just don’t understand the power that the water has.”
Berger showered compliments on the entire situation and the cooperation and teamwork from every entity involved in the search.
“We have some of the best first responders in the state. The cooperation that we have here is tremendous. The citizens really should feel very blessed to have the amount of cooperation we have in the counties,” Berger said.
