PINEWOOD SPRINGS — Two brothers died Sunday after they were swept into raging waters of the Little Thompson River through an area called “the tubs” that is popular for high-risk swimming.
The boys, ages 6 and 9, residents said, were with other children in the area, where granite cliffs form a waterfall and gushing currents cut a series of deep pools where people swim.
The two boys went into the water — exactly how and why is not clear — and dispatchers said they received a 911 call about 12:20 p.m. from a phone at a nearby home.
Pinewood Springs Fire Protection District crew and others responded by a bridge but could not revive the boys.
“They fell in the water,” Larimer County Sheriff Lt. Bobby Moll said. “They were found unresponsive in the water. CPR was performed. It was not successful.”
The sheriff and coroner were investigating, Moll said. It was unclear whether other children had been interviewed, he said.
The brothers lived in a home a few hundred yards above the river. Numerous signs mark the area, which is closed to the public. Residents of Pinewood Springs are advised to enter only at their own risk.
“People are swimming in there everywhere” during the summer when it is warm, said Carly Smith, who has lived in the community for 11 years and manages a business nearby. “It is pretty risky. It is pretty fun. People are supposed to supervise their kids when they are down there.”
The whooshing waterfall, while private, nevertheless draws people from outside the community regularly.
“People come in here all the time asking me where the tubs are,” Smith said.
Residents are well aware there have been accidents along the cliffs before, she said. When she was heading from her home to work, she saw firefighters performing CPR on the two boys by the river.
“It was really really sad,” she said. “It will affect the whole community. It happened on Mother’s Day.”
