SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – June 21, 2025, started as many summer days on Lake Tahoe do – boats full of families and friends enjoying the lake with a light wind expected in the afternoon. In under two hours on that fateful afternoon, a storm like no other came over the lake, tossing boats around on 4- to 8-foot waves like they were toys, and people ended up in the water. Eight people lost their lives north of Emerald Bay when their 27-foot boat capsized, but it could have been so much worse.
Tuesday evening, members of the South Lake Tahoe Police Department (SLTPD) and South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue (SLTFR) were recognized for their heroics in June, saving many lives in treacherous conditions. The first Medals of Valor were awarded to the departments.
The SLTPD boat, Marine 1, called into the department’s emergency dispatch center, stating a boat was in distress. The officers on board were helping a disabled boat with ten passengers outside the entrance to the Tahoe Keys Marina. Marine 1’s two officers, Shannon Laney and Michele Gigante, had two choices – transfer the occupants to a safe boat (which, with high waves and strong wind, was too dangerous), or tow the boat to a safe place. They chose to tow and called for help, with SLTFR Marine 17 responding.
SLTFR Deputy Chief Karl Koeppen was on the beach at the Keys, watching the operations from the shore. It was then that the boat capsized after it took on water, tossing all ten who were on board into the cold water. He sent two of his crew into the water from the beach to start saving those in the water, and firefighters on Marine 17 also jumped in.
All ten of those people were saved due to the heroics of South Lake Tahoe’s first responders.
SLTFR Firefighter/Paramedic Brent Tajkowski, Engineer Lance Hubbard, Firefighter/Paramedic Stuart Bogle, Captain/Paramedic Trent Renner, and Firefighter/Paramedic Paul Bias all risked their lives that day.
As soon as Marine 1 and Marine 17 got all of the rescued boat occupants to safety, they headed straight through the high waves to get to another rescue situation that was happening north of Emerald Bay towards the beach at D.L. Bliss State Park, and dropped those same swimmers into the water to start saving people again. The waves at that time were reaching heights of about 10 feet.
The El Dorado County sheriff’s boat, Marine 3, was also responding, but the boat hit rocks in the storm and sent the two deputies on board into the water. SLTFR saved the life of one of the deputies who was in distress.
That day, there were eight fatalities, 12 people who were tossed into the water and saved, and two saved deputies.
The heroic actions of the teams from SLTFR and SLTPD were recognized during a joint ceremony at the City Council Chambers on October 14.
For South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue: The three recipients of the SLTFR Medal of Valor were Renner, Hubbard, and Bogle. Two Chiefs’ Meritorious Awards were given to Bias and Tajkowski for separately pulling citizens in distress out of the water from the shore.
For the South Lake Tahoe Police Department, Medals of Valor were awarded to Laney and Gigante for their courageous boat response and water rescues that day. The Meritorious Service Award was given to Public Safety Dispatchers Nicole Harrington and Melissa Dube for their work as the police and fire dispatchers during the rescues. They directed dozens of responses to the multiple 911 calls.
The storm that occurred on Lake Tahoe that day was not forecasted, and multiple agencies, including NOAA, NASA, and NTSB, are continuing a case study on the waves and wind. As SLTFR Chief Jim Drennan said, “This storm was unlike anything anyone had experienced.”
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