By Tom Vines

Early summer seems to be a good time for getting into trouble in the outdoors. People slip off cliffs, plunge into raging waters, get lost in the backcountry—the list goes on. This was certainly the case in June, when Portland Fire & Rescue responded to a variety of unique rescue calls.

On June 24, a 911 call to the City of Portland Bureau of Emergency Communications reported a fallen climber at Rocky Butte, a recreational climbing area in Portland.

At 1130 HRS, Portland Fire & Rescue dispatched Truck 2, Engine 12, Engine 19 and Chief 3. Other units dispatched during the rescue included Rescue 2, Truck 2, Engine 12, Engine 19, Rescue 19 and Chief 103. AMR Medic 306 responded along with an AMR supervisor. The department also dispatched high-angle rescue units Squad 1, Engine 1 and Truck 1.

Engine 12 was first on scene at 1136 HRS.

Because the responders didn’t know the precise location and situation of the climber, the initial team of 12 split into two so they could quickly find her and prepare for her evacuation. Engine 12, Truck 1 and Engine 1 took a road that led to a parking area that was a short walk from the top of the cliff, where they could anchor lowering systems, if needed.

The remaining responders went to the base of the cliff. For them, the closest access point was southbound Interstate 205 at the base of the climbing area, so response vehicles had to park on the freeway shoulder. Firefighters then hiked a little less than a mile to the site, carrying with them rescue gear pre-sorted according to function.

A firefighter from Engine 12 was the first to reach the patient, who was lying at the bottom of a rock face near the trail. The adult female was conscious and alert but complaining of leg pain.

At the time of the accident, the woman was not climbing, but simply walking between climb areas. Due to recent rains, the area trails were very slippery. She apparently lost her footing and slid to the bottom of the trail.

The rescuers decided the best way to remove her would be via a low-angle rope-assisted evacuation system. Complicating the rescue operation was the difficult footing—unstable ground cover along with loose rock and muddy trails.

The firefighters packaged her on a spine board in a metal basket litter. Because she had leg injuries, they stabilized her so her weight would be put on her torso, not her legs.

Because the slope angle was not steep, firefighters could carry the litter with a belay system to help them avoid slipping. They rigged a Munter hitch belay and attached it to a tree with an anchor strap. One rescuer was assigned to control the Munter hitch belay. Firefighters wearing Type III harnesses stabilized themselves by clipping their harnesses into a litter with adjustable Prusik loop attachments.

Rescuers had the climber packaged and down the hill to a trail at 1212 HRS. From there, it was only an additional 4 minutes to Medic 306. The patient was transferred to AMR and transported at 1216 HRS to Legacy Emanuel Hospital.

The wet, treacherous conditions that led to the woman’s fall also proved hazardous to rescuers. A firefighter from Engine 12 ended up in an area with unstable footing. Rather than have him risk falling as he tried to climb out of the area, the other rescuers decided to hook him into a safety system. They had him clip a rope to his harness, and then they attached a separate, pre-rigged 4:1 MA haul system to his rope. They then safely retrieved him from the risky site.

Sources: Portland Fire & Rescue Lt. Rich Tyler provided information for this report. Some additional details were taken from an account of the incident in The Oregonian.

LESSONS LEARNED/LESSONS REINFORCED:
Lt. Tyler says that for the responders, this was pretty much a textbook operation for which they had prepared with training and preplanning. However, the treacherous conditions presented by unstable ground cover along with loose rock and muddy trails were a good reminder for all responders that whatever the environment—urban or woodlands—it is critical to always maintain a high level of situational awareness for any dangers that could potentially compromise your safety or the safety of your crew.

The Portland Rope Rescue Team never knows exactly what the next call will bring, so they prepare for all contingencies in terms of both training and equipment organization. The team members are trained to set up a variety of systems, including both urban high-rise and wilderness situations. The members help prepare themselves by training at potential rescue sites in the Portland area. From having trained at Rocky Butte, for example, they knew that climbing accidents would likely involve one of two scenarios: the climber falling partway down and landing on one of the ledges, or falling all the way down to the sloped area.

In terms of equipment organization, the team packages equipment into functional modules, such as mainlines, hauling systems, belay systems, patient packaging systems and lowering systems. Once they know additional details about the rescue situation, they can further break down the gear for what they need. For example, the halfback device is often used when packaging a patient in a confined area, such as on a ledge, where a full backboard and litter would difficult to manage. But because the patient was farther down the slope, they opted for a spineboard.

The Rope Rescue Team was experiencing an especially busy time, with three responses in a week. One was a mutual-aid response with Gresham Fire for a rope-rescue system in a swiftwater rescue. Another call had been to Forest Park, where a person had fallen approximately 200 feet into a ravine. That call was particularly challenging because of slick footing and thick underbrush. Once the patient had been extricated, firefighters had to retrieve two bystanders who had tried to assist the fallen individual, but were unable to get back up the slope. The team used a retrieval system similar to the one used at Rocky Butte to retrieve the team member.

Rescue Editor Tom Vines is the co-author of “High Angle Rescue Techniques” and “Confined Space and Structural Rope Rescue.” He operates a rope-rescue consulting group in Red Lodge, Mont.

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