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DEC workers rescue Bluff Island jumper from drowning

SARANAC LAKE – A man who was drowning Thursday afternoon in Lower Saranac Lake after jumping from Bluff Island was pulled into a boat by a handful of state Department of Environmental Conservation employees who happened to be in the right place at the right time.

Ken Kunath, a DEC maintenance man for the Saranac Lake Islands Campground, said he and his co-workers were waiting for parts to fix a cabin when they saw the young man jump from the Bluff, a tall, rocky cliff many people jump from.

“Usually we will swing by there, and if we see people, we stop and watch,” Kunath said.

After the man fell into the lake, Kunath, 65, said he saw him bob up, appearing to be unconscious and face down in the water.

As the DEC employees approached in their boat, Kunath leaped into the lake and pulled the man’s head above water. Kunath said the man then woke up, panicked and began flailing his arms.

The workers pulled the man into their boat, where he appeared to be “conscious and breathing,” according to Kunath. They drove him ashore at about 2:55 p.m., and an ambulance took him away to a hospital.

Authorities did not identify the rescued man, but they said he was a visitor, not from Saranac Lake.

Kunath appeared visibly shaken a few minutes later as he retold the experience at the Second Pond Boat Launch.

“No doubt in my mind, if we did not spring into action, he might have died,” Kunath said.

Asked if he felt like a hero, Kunath responded that he was just doing his job.

“It might have been a heroic act, but that’s a part of our job to keep an eye on the public and keep them safe,” he said. “I didn’t do anything someone else would have done.”

A man named Adam, claiming to be the Bluff Island jumper, reached out the Enterprise Friday morning by email. He said there’s “no doubt in my mind that Ken saved my life,” and he wanted express his gratitude.

Forest Ranger Lt. Julie Harjung said something like this happens every year at Bluff Island. She said hitting the water in a jump from the Bluff is like “hitting concrete.”

“Although it looks like a lot of fun,” Harjung said, “it is not safe.”

Kunath also said jumping from the Bluff is dangerous.

Estimates vary on the height of the Bluff Island cliff, but past Enterprise articles report it to be somewhere between 70 and 85 feet tall.

DEC workers rescue Bluff Island jumper from drowning

SARANAC LAKE – A man who was drowning this afternoon in Lower Saranac Lake after jumping from Bluff Island was pulled into a boat by a handful of state Department of Environmental Conservation employees who happened to be in the right place at the right time.

Ken Kunath, a DEC maintenance man for the Saranac Lake Islands Campground, said he and his co-workers were waiting for parts to fix a cabin when they saw the young man jump from the Bluff, a tall, rocky cliff many people jump from.

“Usually we will swing by there, and if we see people, we stop and watch,” Kunath said.

After the man fell into the lake, Kunath, 65, said he saw him bob up, appearing to be unconscious and face down in the water.

As the DEC employees approached in their boat, Kunath leaped into the lake and pulled the man’s head above water. Kunath said the man then woke up, panicked and began flailing his arms.

The workers pulled the man into their boat, where he appeared to be “conscious and breathing,” according to Kunath. They drove him ashore at about 2:55 p.m., where an ambulance took him away to a hospital.

Authorities did not identify the rescued man, but they said he was a visitor, not from Saranac Lake.

Kunath appeared visibly shaken a few minutes later as he retold the experience at the Second Pond Boat Launch.

“No doubt in my mind, if we did not spring into action, he might have died,” Kunath said.

Asked if he felt like a hero, Kunath responded that he was just doing his job.

“It might have been a heroic act, but that’s a part of our job to keep an eye on the public and keep them safe,” he said. “I didn’t do anything someone else would have done.”

Forest Ranger Lt. Julie Harjung said something like this happens every year at Bluff Island. She said hitting the water in a jump from the Bluff is like “hitting concrete.”

“Although it looks like a lot of fun,” Harjung said, “it is not safe.”

Kunath also said jumping from the Bluff is dangerous.

Estimates vary on the height of the Bluff Island cliff, but past Enterprise articles report it to be somewhere between 70 to 85 feet tall.

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