A man was successfully rescued in Cowlitz County, Washington by the Fire & Rescue team. He had been missing for 5 days, and when the rescue team finally got information about his whereabouts, they made their way to the scene expecting the worst.
Missing person reports often rely on where a person was last seen. In some situations, the terrain can be so convoluted that rescue authorities don’t fully know how to approach the mission. The truth about the job is that it’s experts using their experience to adapt to unique situations on the field.
In this particular scenario, the Cowlitz 2 Fire & Rescue had bystanders to thank — they saw the aftermath of the accident and were able to send them in the right direction. According to People, the bystanders saw tire tracks leaving a roadway in the county and, at the bottom of a ravine, they spotted a small green truck.
The Fire & Rescue team immediately gathered that this was the man they had been searching for the past 5 days. However, considering the grisly nature of the scene described, they were understandably cynical. A member of the authorities even said, “We were expecting a crime scene.” In the press release in the afterglow of the successful rescue, the authorities wrote, “Firefighters hiked down the hill through waist deep brush expecting the worst, but found the driver of the truck was still alive but severely injured and ill.”
In previous situations we have already gotten a glimpse of the indomitable nature of the human spirit. Just recently, a 77-year-old man in France was also stuck at the bottom of a ravine after a trip to the supermarket was marred by an accident. The man survived on nothing but a bottle of wine for 3 entire days, so there was always a glimmer of hope that this Washington man might also be alive.
When the authorities arrived at the accident scene, luckily one of the medics noted some movement from the survivor through their binoculars. That’s when Lieutenant and PIO for the fire & rescue agency, Bryan Ditterick, said they switched their mission into a rescue mission.
Ditterick said they got help from the Longview Fire Department to complete an intricate rope rescue. He shared, “They set up a plan to safely get down to the patient, assess how he’s doing, his injuries, and then package him in a stokes basket… then utilize the rope rescue team and some of their techniques to get the patient up safely without injuring him anymore.”
They found the man still conscious in the car and flew him to get medical assistance via helicopter to a trauma center in Vancouver. His status is still yet to be announced, but considering how horrific those 5 days alone hanging on by a thread were, he may need some personal time with the doctors before the family feels comfortable coming forward with information.
Ditterick and his team are deservedly delighted with what they achieved. He told reporters, “It worked out beautifully. The whole incident from dispatch to closing the call took about an hour, which is pretty remarkable.”
