Fairfield Twp. Assistant Fire Chief Matt Schumann said the fisherman saw something like a person face-down floating down the Great Miami River near the Wayne-Madison bridge.
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“We put boats in the water down by the High Street bridge, and we searched from the low-level dam all the way up to where we were (at Rentschler Forest) and we didn’t find anything,” Schumann said of Sunday’s search efforts.
Crews went out Monday morning as the river had dropped about a foot or more, “and we were hoping if someone was in there we would be able to find them,” he said.
No one was found, Schumann said.
There was just one caller to 911, a man fishing from his backyard on Canal Road. He called emergency dispatchers at 1:48 p.m. Sunday.
According to the 911 call, the man said he “was in the backyard fishing, and I know the river’s up … uh, it looked to be like a body floating down river. Older person, purple sweater, gray hair. Not 100 percent sure, but that’s what it looked like.”
Crews were out until just after 6 p.m. Sunday, when the search was called off for the day. The river was running swiftly and was a few feet higher than normal water levels, according to officials.