It Could Be Weeks Before 4 Vehicles Are Pulled Out Of The South Platte
DENVER (CBS4) - The Denver Fire Department will leave four cars discovered in the South Platte River on Thursday just where they are-- because it's just too dangerous to pull them out.
Two cars, a minivan and a Jeep are in the water near Overland Golf Course and by Sports Authority Field at Mile High. Authorities think three of the vehicles were recently dumped by car thieves. They believe the other crashed but the driver was able to escape.
"Until we can ensure nobody's in the vehicle, we'll treat it as an extreme emergency," said Denver Fire Department Greg Pixley.
The fire department may leave the vehicles for weeks until the water goes down. The water is not only running high but running fast. That will slow down the investigation.
"We basically establish firefighters up and around and down the river from that actual incident," said Pixley.
Reservoirs releasing water and snowmelt causing a lot of runoff from the mountains, it could be weeks before the water is low enough to be considered safe for fire crews to retrieve the abandoned vehicles.
"We're not going to put our firefighters at risk trying to remove those vehicles out of there when there's not an issue," said Pixley. "As we watch the waters recede we'll also continue to monitor the location of the vehicles so that we don't have them create a larger issue than what we've already had."
Firefighters are asking people to stay away from eroded river banks, which might easily give way.