Erika McGuire
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Nearly two years after a rescue boat capsized in Bear Creek in Columbia, officials say a rope throw bag on the rescue boat wasn’t properly secured and that the cause of the boat’s sudden power loss may never be known.
Boone County Fire Protection District Assistant Chief Matthew Tobben, 42, responded to the area of Range Line Street and Bear Creek in the early morning hours on July 8, 2024, after Columbia Fire requested mutual aid to rescue two people because the department’s boat could not make it upstream. Columbia had seen heavy rainfall overnight, leading to flash flooding in several parts of the city.
Tobben, a CFD firefighter, and the two people being rescued were on a Boone County water rescue boat when the boat lost power and overturned, throwing all four overboard. The three others survived, but an autopsy report confirmed Tobben drowned.
A report authored by the Boone County Fire Protection District says the boat, an inflatable with a 40-horsepower engine, drifted downstream with the current. Boone County Assistant Chief Gale Blomenkamp said BCFPD and a marine specialist evaluated the boat after the event, and it mechanically checked out fine, according to the report. There was no definitive cause of engine failure, the report said.
“The motor started, it ran just fine. So we don’t know why it lost power, we’re not going to,” Blomenkamp said. ‘We’re not going to speculate in the report as to why it lost power; it lost power and was not able to be restarted.”
Blomenkamp said Tobben was the captain of the boat and the county controlled the rescue, while a CFD firefighters was also in the boat as a rescue technician. Blomenkamp said the boat was making its way upstream when it lost power. If it hadn’t, he says the outcome of the rescue may have played out differently.
“They had recovered those people that were stranded, and they were working their way upstream when that boat lost power,” he said. “So had they been able to reach their destination, they would have got those people out of that boat, they would have pulled the boat out of the water at that location instead of returning to where we initially launched, and we would have had people out on the water very, very quickly.”
Tobben’s rescue boat in Bear Creek after it lost power during the water rescue that claimed his life (KMIZ).
The rope throw bag
BCFPD’s report states that a Mustang Survival rescue rope throw bag was attached to the rescue boat, securing the working end to the inside of the boat with a carabiner.
An analysis done by the Columbia Fire Department says personnel on shore retrieved a throw bag from a CFD boat and tossed it to the BCFPD boat crew, and they started upstream.
During the rescue, Tobben’s ankle became entangled in the rope, which had one end attached inside the boat, contributing to his death, according to the report.
“The bag itself was attached or got attached to the bow of the boat. Not sure who did that,” Blomenkamp said. “Not sure how that happened, but it was attached to the bow of the boat, and then the rope itself played out of that bag. So that is what entangled Chief Tobben’s ankle. When he bailed out, when that boat actually got entangled and trapped, caught by that tension diagonal.”
Blomenkamp said nothing should ever be placed inside the boat.
Tobben reportDownload
“No loose objects, no loose ropes, no ropes attached to the inside of a boat because of this foot entrapment possibility,” Blomenkamp said. “You’re not going to break that, and you’re not going to be able to force your way from the current to release that, from around your ankle, like Chief Tobben got caught by just the force of the water, which is just too much.”
According to the report, the bag lacked the proper closure or control method, creating a risk that the rope could deploy accidentally during a rescue. If not properly secured, the rope may entangle rescue personnel.
As the boat moved downstream, a secondary throw rope was used from short distance an attempt to stop it. The rescue boat then became caught in the first rope, and all occupants bailed out of the boat into the water.
The report said another rope, the tension diagonal rope system, wasn’t elevated quickly enough to prevent boat entanglement.
At the time of the incident, Tobben was wearing a properly secured flotation device along with a tactical helmet. The report says both items were later found downstream, both still strapped and zipped appropriately.
“We know that the safety equipment that he was issued and should have been wearing was properly fitted and was properly being worn, at the time, the force of the water when he got caught by his ankle entrapment,” Blomenkamp said.
A helmet, rope bag, and flotation device similar to the gear Assistant Chief Matthew Tobben wore during the Bear Creek water rescue (KMIZ).
Weather conditions
The report also found that weather conditions played a factor in the rescue and Tobben’s death:
Heavy rainfall before the incident
Elevated water levels with swift current
Approximately 9-10 feet of water depth near the bridge over Bear Creek on Range Line Street, just north of Elleta Boulevard
Limited bank access due to steep terrain and vegetation
Low-light/ early morning conditions
“I think the conditions was the reason for the incident. I’ve been around long enough to know that these conditions were probably changing rapidly,” Blomenkamp said. “It was dark, it’s hard to get light on that portion of the creek. A lot of things going on, a lot of noise, a lot of heavy moving water,”
Lessons learned and recommendations
BCFPD’s report highlighted six lessons learned intended to improve safety and prevent similar incidents from happening in future rescue operations:
Securing a rope bag with an inadequate closure mechanism.
Downstream safety system requires continuous control
Operations must anticipate a sudden loss of propulsion
Personal protective equipment improves survivability but does not eliminate entrapment risk
Mutual aid requires unified tactical understanding
Risk assessment must be continuous
The report recommends enhanced training on propulsion failure and uncontrolled drift scenarios, along with CFD and BCFPD conducting joint swift-water rescue training and standardization. This would allow shared expectations, terminology and safety practices. In addition, the report emphasizes that pre-incident coordination and effective communication are critical to safe mutual-aid operations.
Since Tobben’s death, the two agencies have not begun training together, though Blomenkamp said that needs to change to benefit the community. He said BCFPD Chief Doug Westoff and CFD Chief Brian Schaeffer are set to meet soon to discuss improving cooperation between the department.
Schaeffer was not with CFD at the time of Tobben’s drowning.
“This is a time as soon as that event occured, it was the time for the two organizations to become closer, not further apart. And I worry that we haven’t got there yet,” Blomenkamp said. “I worry that the two agencies, Columbia Fire and Boone County Fire, are not as close as we should be, because we should be able to lean on each other, especially in times like that.”
Blomenkamp said he’s unsure what it would take for the two agencies to be close and work together.
In a prepared statement, CFD Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer said his department has implemented most of the recommendations from the report.
“We remain committed to continuous improvement and to strengthening our working relationships with the diverse agencies we support across the region,” Schaeffer wrote.
Who was Matthew Tobben?
Tobben and his wife (courtesy).
Before joining BCFPD, Tobben served with Missouri Task Force 1 for 12 years and was previously with the fire department in Union, Missouri, for 19 years. He remained active on the task force and was teaching swift water rescues for the task force and the county when he drowned.
Tobben filled the position of Assistant Chief Bryant Gladney, who was killed in December 2021 while at the scene of a crash on Interstate 70 when a tractor-trailer hit Gladney’s truck at a high speed.
“He was the right guy to fill that role for our training spot. He had the certifications, had the experience, had all that stuff,” Blomenkamp said. “Could have been a guy that could have spent the next 20 years here, and unfortunately, a couple months after he started here, this tragedy occurred. So we had the right guy. I didn’t know him real well, but I knew him well enough to know that he was a special individual.”
Tobben was a husband and father.
A memorial plaque at the Boone County Fire Protection District headquarters honors Firefighter Tobben and Assistant Fire Chief Bryant Gladney, who died in a crash in December 2021 (KMIZ).
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