Challenging Technical Rescue this Morning

Tour Commander, 509.625.7100

Thursday, December 5, 2019 at 11:12 a.m.

Update: The victim from this morning's technical rescue from the Post Street Bridge has been released from the hospital. His name and and extent of injuries are confidential. I have attached photos from the incident below and there will be no additional information from this incident released by the SFD.

 

Just before 1 AM this morning, passerby's near the Post Street Bridge reported hearing a man screaming for help from the darkness below. When they peered over the bridge to investigate, a man was visible on the edge of the river approximately 80 feet below. The man's location was complicated even more as he was at the bottom of a sheer cliff, between the upper falls and the lower falls of the river. The citizens called 911, which activated a technical rescue response from the SFD. 

Arriving companies and SPD officers were able to locate the man on the south side of the river from above-using spotlights. The man had been in the river and was suffering from hypothermia and assumed trauma from a fall. Immediately, blankets and gear were lowered to him to provide warmth as firefighters set up for the rescue. From the bridge, two firefighters were quickly lowered on ropes from above to the man. They secured him with a rescue harness and personal floatation device, administered life-saving medical procedures, and began readying him for a mechanical accent. Firefighters then used a tillered aerial ladder to mechanically lift the victim and the team 80 feet to the bridge's surface. 

Once safely on the surface of the bridge, he was cared for by SFD Paramedics and transported to definitive care at a local trauma center. The rescue was likely the most technical and challenging event faced by the team this year, and undoubtedly saved the victim's life.

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