The Ripon Consolidated Fire District sent out a call for mutual aid on Monday after it was reported that somebody jumped off of the bike bridge over the Stanislaus River after a football and never surfaced.

No one was found, and authorities now believe that the reporting party was mistaken, or the person got out without being seen.

According to Ripon Fire Chief Dennis Bitters, there has been no missing persons reported to authorities since the search for a person in the water turned up nothing.

“We had received a report that somebody jumped off the bridge after a football – that they saw him jump but nobody saw him get out,” Bitters said. “We were called out for a possible water rescue and searched the river all the way down to the city’s corporation yard – both us and another agency had a boat out there and the police department flew their drone and aided in the search.

“We couldn’t find anybody and weren’t able to find anybody to corroborate the initial story, so we turned the matter back over to the Ripon Police Department.”

The incident underscores what has been another issue for local authorities over the course of the last several weeks – large groups of people gathering along the banks of the Stanislaus River to enjoy the warm weather in violation of social distancing guidelines and recommendations.

According to Bitters, large groups have been spotted at the sand bar in the vicinity near where the call originated on Monday – a popular spot where people typically enjoy the water and the scenery at the park maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers.

However, that park – like all others – is currently closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and while the groups are out of the way and shielded from the public beneath the old growth trees along the river, they are visible to motorists passing over the bridge on Highway 99 which prompts calls to authorities.

While the call on Monday was either a case of a mistaken reporting party or somebody who managed to get out of the river without being seen, Bitters noted that it’s never safe to jump off of a bridge into a river – especially given the makeup of the Stanislaus River and the fact that submerged obstacles can lurk just beneath the surface that are not visible from above.

Social distancing guidelines aside, Bitters said that people don’t realize how cold the water from the river actually is, and routinely misjudge the current and the fact that tree snags and other obstacles provide opportunity for disaster – whether that’s the fast-moving current pinning somebody against a tree or a submerged branch puncturing a flotation device and sending those recreating, often in an inebriated state, crashing into the water.

“It is a park and the rules don’t change just because people want to go down to the river,” Bitters said. “Regardless of the health order, people need to be aware that the water is very cold and it’s moving very fast and fluctuating rapidly and it’s not a very good place to go swimming.

“At the very least people need to be wearing personal flotation devices, and we don’t see that very often – the water looks like it’s safe but looks are very much deceiving when it comes to that river and the obstacles and snags that change all the time.”

To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.