Crews rescue man from Columbia River
April 07--A man who reportedly jumped into the Columbia River late Sunday night was rescued by fire personnel after he got himself onto the railroad bridge west of the Interstate 5 Bridge.
About 11 p.m., a passerby called 911 after a man reportedly jumped into the river near Who Song & Larry's, according to Vancouver Fire Battalion Chief Dave Seabrook.
The caller had seen the man bobbing in the water but lost sight of him, Seabrook said.
Rescue boats from multiple agencies, including Portland Fire & Rescue boat 17, responded to the area. Before long, they found the man.
"We could hear somebody calling for help from the railroad bridge structure," Seabrook said. "Rescue boat 17 located the victim, who not only survived the trip down the river in very cold water, but was able to climb up the structure and was stuck. He was exhausted."
BNSF Railway stopped train traffic while crews from Vancouver Fire Department went on top of the railroad bridge and set up a technical rescue with ropes and pulleys to lower the man onto the Portland Fire & Rescue boat.
From there, crews took the man to the Red Lion Hotel Vancouver at the Quay and transported him to an area hospital via ambulance.
Seabrook said that many of the emergency calls for water rescues do not turn out so positively.
"The water is very cold and he was in there for quite some time," he said. "A Combination of the victim's luck and our ability to get to him and rescue him is what allowed him to survive this event."
Vancouver Police Department, Port of Portland, U.S. Coast Guard and BNSF Railway all assisted in the rescue, which took about an hour.
Seabrook didn't have information on the man's condition, nor any other details about why the man was in the water past the initial report from the witness.
Copyright 2014 - The Columbian, Vancouver, Wash.
