Chattooga River search continues

Crews spent nine hours on the Chattooga Wild and Scenic River on Tuesday searching for the body of Thomas Hill of Tampa, Fla., who fell into the river almost a week ago. “During today’s efforts, two search dogs indicated that Mr. Hill still may be located in the Five Falls Area,” said Incident Commander Scott Loftis. “Two different search dogs will join the team tomorrow to see if they respond in the same areas.” Tuesday marked the seventh day of operations; on the first day, attempts were made to rescue Hill after he fell overboard. For the last six days, more than 240 responders and administrative support personnel have worked to find Hill’s body. “On Wednesday, a crew from Columbia and Lexington County, S.C., is coming to get a fresh perspective in the search area,” said Loftis. “The recovery effort is tough physically and emotionally on all of the responders involved, so we rotate them in and out to re-energize them.” Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will search from the air again Wednesday morning, weather permitting, as well as serve as emergency evacuation responders.  Also on Tuesday, representatives from South Carolina DNR, Georgia DNR, the U.S. Forest Service, as well as Oconee and Rabun counties, met with individuals from Sherwin-Williams to provide an update of operations to date; discuss ongoing challenges such as river flows; and look at long-term options to find and recover Hill’s body. “Any future options will be dictated by the same things we face every day, the river’s flow levels and the safety of our responders,” said Loftis. “We’re always at the mercy of the river flowing downhill.”