WARRENTON — When more than 2 million fall salmon are predicted to swim up the Columbia River, thousands of anglers are sure to chase them. A few of those fishermen will get into trouble.

That’s when the Coast Guard Auxiliary can help. Members of the volunteer organization talk to anglers at busy boat ramps near the river’s mouth and do boat safety checks. Auxiliary members also head out onto the river and can respond to emergencies along with active Coast Guard boats and helicopters.

The prediction of 1.5 million chinook and 648,300 coho returning to the Columbia has made the Buoy 10 season in the lower 16 miles of the river particularly busy, drawing anglers from afar. Some of them don’t understand that Buoy 10 waters can get rough and windy.

“They come in from all over the place because they hear the hype,” said Glen Wood, an Auxiliary member who lives in Longview. “They don’t respect the water.”

The Coast Guard and Auxiliary stepped up their safety patrols at Buoy 10 after seven people died there in 2001. Since then, most seasons have passed with one or no fatalities at Buoy 10.

Auxiliary members’ work starts on shore. By 6 a.m. last Friday, Wood, Ron Hilberger and John Lester were at the Hammond boat ramp, the closest launching point to the river’s mouth on the Oregon side. Auxiliary members wear blue uniforms similar to those of on-duty Coasties.

At the peak of the season, which usually occurs in late August, it will take half an hour to launch at Hammond, Wood said.

With four boat-launching lanes at Hammond, safety can be as simple as warning people to look out for boat trailers being backed into the water.

“We catch boats that nearly sink because they don’t put their plugs in,” said Wood, who was an active Coast Guard member for three years in the 1970s. Even experienced fishing guides have been known to forget to put the drain plugs in their boats before launching, Wood said.

A relatively small boat, about 15 feet long, was in the launch line.

“I call those bathtubs,” said Wood, who’s seen even smaller craft attempt the lower river.

“Last week, we had a guy from Michigan, Wood said. “He brought his pontoon boat. He said he was going to go out over the bar,” the sometimes treacherous water where the Columbia dumps into the ocean.

Auxiliary members said that in general, the farther away people come from the less aware they are of Buoy 10 hazards.

Wood urges everyone to wear a life preserver, even though it’s only required for children 12 and younger. “None of us ever plans on falling in the water,” Wood said. But if it happens, the shock of cold water makes it very difficult to get back out.

At mid-morning, the launching frenzy had subsided so Wood and Lester got onto Hilberger’s 22-foot Alumaweld Intruder for a river patrol. Auxiliary members must provide their own boats, though they’re reimbursed for fuel.

Before leaving the Warrenton boat ramp, volunteers fitted a vertical bar on the boat’s aft deck to which a tow rope could be attached. They even carry a special rig to tow a sailboat. Lester, who lives in Nahcotta, also readied poles that could be extended towards those in distress. Fishing poles had to be stashed. “They don’t allow us to fish on duty any more,” Wood said.

On the river, Hilberger, who has a house in Warrenton, slowed his boat to circle a small craft in which the only adult appeared to be fussing with his outboard motor. Satisfied that the motor was running and producing a wake — and that the child on board was wearing a life preserver — they continued downstream.

Another open boat was more suited to tropical waters. “That’s a good Florida boat you’ve got there,” Lester said to his fellow volunteers. “It ain’t worth a crap out here,” with its low freeboard, he commented.

The dispatcher from the Coast Guard Cape Disappointment station called the volunteers and asked if they could head out across the bar to tow in a 22-foot boat that had lost power because of a problem with its fuel system. Usually the volunteers don’t venture out that far but bar conditions were relatively calm so Hilberger powered up and his boat headed downstream, past the mass of fishing action.

On the way, the men discussed towing techiques — but when they arrived at the reported location of the ailing boat, it wasn’t there. It turned out that a 47-foot Coast Guard motor lifeboat had arrived first and taken the boat in tow, and a radio frequency issue had stymied communication.

“This time of year, they’re towing in one or two a day,” Lester said.

Back inside the bar, the volunteer patrol boat wound its way through the flotilla of dozens and dozens of boats.

Volunteers’ duties include warning anglers if they’re fishing downstream of Buoy 10, which isn’t allowed. New this year is the Youngs Bay Control Zone, an area near the mouth of the bay that’s off-limits to sport anglers.

Auxiliary members can’t issue tickets or order anyone not to go out but they sometimes call in what they call “the gold side” — regular Coast Guard members have gold insignia while Auxiliary members have silver badges.

The volunteers will be back the next several weekends. Wood predicted that Auxiliary members will have talked to 15,000 people by the time the Buoy 10 season is over.

Lester’s uniform sports an award he received for volunteering more than 100 hours in the past two years. He said he’s always been safety-oriented since his days focusing on it working for BNSF railway.

“I want to give back,” he said. “If I have one person take my safety class and go out and put on a life jacket, it’s worth it.”