Vancouver Man Struck By Tree Clings to Life

Simonn Marsh was fighting to stay alive Tuesday, with family members and friends gathered around him in a hospital, three days after a large tree fell on him while he was trout fishing in the woods of northern Skamania County.

In a dramatic rescue, two fishing buddies managed to pull a section of the 75- to 100-foot spruce off the 25-year-old Clark County electrician, who was found lying pinned with the back of his head and one arm in the water of the upper North Fork of the Lewis River.

The friends and other fishermen managed to call for help and carry the injured man to an ambulance.

Tuesday night, Marsh was listed in critical condition at Southwest Washington Medical Center, a nursing supervisor said.

A machine was breathing for him, and doctors were using sedatives to keep him unconscious, said his mother, Lori Marsh.

The accident occurred about 4 p.m. Saturday near Eagle Cliff Bridge, on the upper end of Swift Reservoir, several miles east of Cougar.

It left Marsh with a serious head injury, a collapsed lung and fractures to a dozen ribs and his shoulder, neck, both thighs, lower leg and back, his mother said.

"It's pretty bad, but we know he's going to be OK," Lori Marsh said Tuesday in an intensive-care waiting room. "We're praying for him. We're seeing small steps of progress."

On Tuesday, as Simonn Marsh's wife, Tresa, went into his room, he moved his head, possibly a sign he has some awareness, said his brother, Iann Marsh of Clark County.

The couple, who live north of Cascade Park, have an infant son, Caleb, born on Mother's Day.

"It's just waves of emotion," Lori Marsh said. "At first, of course, all we did was cry. And the more they checked him out, the more injuries they kept adding to the list."

Wes Hill, a longtime fly fisherman who helped carry Simonn Marsh to an ambulance after the tree fell, said he's never heard of a fisherman being hurt in such an accident there.

Hill said his 10-year-old son, Logan, 20 to 30 minutes before the tree fell, had been fishing on the same rock that Simonn Marsh was standing on when he was hit.

David Horn, a friend of Simonn Marsh, said they'd been fishing with another buddy, Jeremiah Doyle, from boulders at the river's edge. On the hillside above them, they could see a tree standing at the top of a cliff, its roots partially exposed by the erosion of winter high waters.

As they angled for trout, they occasionally heard small rocks tumble down the slope, but weren't alarmed until the tree's top swung down toward them.

"I heard a couple of pops and turned around and saw a 75- to 100-foot spruce falling toward us," said Horn, 26, a delivery driver who lives in Hazel Dell. "It was on its way. I just had time to yell Simonn's name and I jumped out of the way."

Horn said he avoided the tree but its top, about 10 inches in diameter, slammed into Simonn Marsh, knocking him down and pinning him on the bank.

Simonn Marsh's eyes were open but he was unconscious and not breathing, Horn said. Horn said he could see Marsh had a large head wound and a broken bone sticking out of his left leg below the knee.

"I tried to lift the tree off him," Horn said. "When I saw I couldn't do that I yelled to Jeremiah," who had been fishing about 100 yards downstream.

As the two men pulled again on the tree, a section of its top broke loose, making it possible for them to move it off Marsh.

Horn said Doyle ran about 600 yards to the Eagle Cliff parking lot. Meanwhile, Horn put Marsh's head on his lap at the water's edge, trying to support his spine and keep his neck straight.

Horn said he felt Marsh's neck and detected a weak pulse. Clearing Marsh's mouth of the sunflower seeds he'd been chewing, Horn said he was about to give Marsh some rescue breaths when the man started breathing on his own.

"I just held Simonn and was praying for him and talking to him," Horn said.

Horn said Marsh seemed to get stronger, with a better pulse, when he heard his friend's voice.

Meanwhile, Doyle had made it to the parking lot and found a wildlife officer, who had a radio, witnesses said. In an area too remote for cell phones, the officer radioed North Country Emergency Medical Services.

North Country sent an ambulance from its Pine Creek station, only two minutes' drive from the parking lot, a medical technician said.

Placing Marsh on a rescue board, about eight people carried him to the ambulance. From the time the tree fell to delivering Marsh to the ambulance was about 30 minutes.

At the medical center later Saturday evening, Horn said, "He was just fighting for every breath."

"There's nothing he could have done, short of having eyes in the back of his head," said fisherman Hill, who didn't know Marsh but helped with the rescue. "He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Hospital vigil

Family and friends filled a waiting room at the medical center on Tuesday. As many as 30 visitors came to support Tresa Marsh and little Caleb, who bears an uncanny resemblance to his father, amply evident in family photographs.

More friends descended upon the Marsh home with food and to help clean and mow the lawn, Tresa Marsh said. She said their assistance and prayers from many circles, including their own City Harvest Church in Hazel Dell, were a welcome boost.

Physicians are waiting for Marsh's brain swelling to subside further and for other vital signs to stabilize before attempting more surgeries, family members said. Most signs were positive on Tuesday, including tests that showed no extra pressure on his spine.

"It's basically a waiting game," Lori Marsh said. She said her son's large frame 6 feet 2 inches and 285 pounds played in his favor when the tree crashed on him.

"The doctor said, 'If it were you or I, we'd be pulverized.' "

Lori Marsh said Simonn has always been an outdoorsman, pursuing fishing and hunting at every chance save for his new, enthusiastic role as a father. "He'll hike in 20 miles if he thinks there's fish in a pond," she said.

John Branton covers crime and law enforcement for The Columbian. He can be reached at 360-759-8012 or .

A contribution account to help the Simonn Marsh family has opened at all branches of Columbia Credit Union.

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