Emergency crews used a rope system to rescue a teenage boy who suffered traumatic head injury after jumping from a rope swing and landing on some rocks in the Washougal River on Monday evening.
Crews from East County Fire & Rescue were called to the 40000 block of Northeast Washougal River Road about 5:15 p.m. for what was first reported as an unknown problem.
“We weren’t sure what we were going to,” Captain Michael Carnes said. “There were some cellphone issues.”
They eventually learned that they were heading to a water rescue and called in reinforcements.
A 19-year-old boy had jumped off of a rope swing and landed head first in the shallow part of the river, hitting his head on some rocks, Carnes said.
Witnesses said that the boy went under and that they dove in after him, pulling him out of the water and out on the bank, Carnes said. They told medics that they performed CPR on him and got him breathing again prior to emergency personnel arriving.
While medics from East County Fire & Rescue and the Camas-Washougal Fire Department went down the steep slope and triaged the boy, a heavy rescue vehicle from Vancouver Fire Department and a technical rescue vehicle from Clark County Fire District 6 responded.
Carnes described the boy as conscious and breathing but not alert.
Medics treated the boy and packaged him onto a backboard and then into a sled. Crews used a rope system to pull the boy up to the road. He was then transported to an area hospital. The boy’s condition as not available.