With winter sun beating down onto hills carpeted in newly green vegetation, the Cuyama River flows peacefully these days near Highway 166.

The pastoral setting makes a stark contrast from the early morning hours of Feb. 24, 1998, when heavy rains drove the normally dry Cuyama River out of control, cutting a wide swath across the highway east of Santa Maria.

Driving through the storm at night, California Highway Patrol officers Rick Stovall and Britt Irvine and Nipomo resident Michael Bennett Tye died when their vehicles plunged into the chasm that had opened in the road. Another motorist and a truck driver were saved from the rushing water. Some Santa Barbara County sheriff's deputies narrowly avoided becoming more casualties.

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the tragedy, which was remembered with an open house and memorial Friday morning at the Santa Maria CHP office. Dozens of retired and current law enforcement and emergency services personnel along with local officials gathered to remember the fallen officers.

“It's just humbling to see the turnout today,” Stovall's widow Lynn said Friday. “There's just a lot of gratitude in my family's heart, and we're proud to be part of the community.”

Despite the decade since the tragedy, its memory remains fresh for many members of the California Highway Patrol in Santa Maria.

“Now 10 years later I remember the good times I had with both of them,” CHP Officer Reggie Julius said. “As far as emotions, sometimes when I think about it, it's kind of hard for me. It's very sad.”

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The segment of 166 between Highways 101 and 33 was renamed in memory of Irvine and Stovall. A memorial for them - and for Officer Loren Scruggs, who was killed by a motorist in April 1971 - sits at the CHP's Santa Maria Office.

For those who worked with them, and for newly arrived officers, there are still constant reminders of the pair who were lost a decade ago on 166.

“We see their photos every day. We have a nice memorial plaque in the hallway,” said CHP Officer Gus Lopez.

A roadside memorial that once sat at the site of the Highway 166 washout has since been removed, but the officers don't need a visual marker.

“Every time we drive by, we know exactly where the roadway gave way, and where the car ended up,” Lopez said.

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On that morning in 1998, Julius got the call that a pair of colleagues were “missing.” Only when he pressed for an explanation did he learn they had responded to a call on Highway 166 and hadn't been heard from again.

“It was pretty surreal and eerie” when he showed up at the scene, about 15 miles east of Highway 101, Julius recalled.

In the dark morning, he remembers listening and watching. Feeling mist coming off the raging river. Hearing chunks of roadway plop into rushing water. Being handicapped that the even powerful police flashlights weren't bright enough to light up the area so they could find colleagues and others.

“All you could hear was the rushing river,” he said.

Working a night shift, the two CHP officers had been sent to check out reports of motorists in distress on Highway 166. Unbeknownst to them, a 300-foot segment of the highway had dropped 20 feet into the water.

They were never heard from again.

Santa Barbara County sheriff's deputies went to see why the CHP officers weren't responding to dispatchers' attempts to reach them. Driving slowly, one patrol unit's front tires went off the road, but the deputies escaped a plunge of their own.

As the sun rose, reality set in.

The black-and-white CHP patrol car was discovered upside down in the river, with the officers dead inside, still wearing seat belts.

A commercial truck driver, James Rowan, was stuck on top of his vehicle after rushing water had tipped the big rig, ripping off the door along with the motor and transmission.

Escaping through a window as water carried his Toyota downstream, motorist Steve Miller found safety on a sandbar.

Nipomo's Michael Bennett Tye wasn't as lucky. Emergency crews found his yellow truck, but not his body. His family ultimately had him declared dead.

The days that followed saw an outpouring of support from the Central Coast community and beyond.

For the funeral, a procession of emergency vehicles stretched for miles along Broadway. Hundreds of people lined the route, some children waving flags or holding signs.

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Stovall, the son of a retired CHP officer, and Irvine were both active in outdoor sports, including water sports, making their deaths by drowning seem a cruel irony.

Lopez recalls that Stovall was very motivated and competitive, especially when it came to getting drunken drivers off the road.

“He was always hunting for drinking drivers. Nobody could get more than he did,” Lopez said. “Rick was very competitive, but he was a very good officer - just a really nice guy.”

While Stovall enjoyed diving and fishing, Irvine savored skydiving, soccer and water skiing, Julius recalled. Irvine is the only person Julius has ever seen water ski barefoot, he added.

Irvine had such an easygoing personality that nobody disliked him, Lopez said, recalling his former colleague's easy and frequent smiles.

“I can't remember him ever getting angry,” Lopez said, recalling going to the gas station and being asked “Hey, where's Britt today?”

“He had that type of personality.”

And both men - “great officers” - also were practical jokers, he said.

Regularly, something sparks a memory of Irvine or Stovall for the officers who worked with the pair.

“They were both good guys,” Lopez said.

The officers who worked with Irvine and Stovall still patrol the highway that claimed their lives, and see the measures that have made the curvy two-lane road safer - although Officer Ken Carroll said he recently nabbed drivers going 88 and 100 mph on the road.

Asked what he tells newcomers assigned to the Santa Maria CHP Office about the fallen officers, Julius said he conveys that both were good family men and dedicated officers who took their jobs seriously.

“There are two guys that gave the department their all, not only the department but the citizens of California, because they were going out to assist a disabled motorist (when they died). Sometimes people may take that for granted.”

“I want the younger guys to realize they are not just pictures on a wall, but officers who gave their lives,” Carroll added.

Janene Scully can be reached at 739-2214 or janscully@santamariatimes.com.

February 24, 2008