A car left South Bradley Road in unincorporated Clackamas County and tumbled roughly 20 feet down an embankment into a creek, trapping three people and four pets inside a vehicle that was taking on water as crews arrived. Firefighters ultimately pulled everyone out alive, including two dogs and two cats, none of whom were hurt in the crash.
According to Clackamas Fire, the single-vehicle crash happened on South Bradley Road in Oregon City, and firefighters found the vehicle filling with water when they got to the scene. Two of the three occupants were assisted up the embankment using a ground ladder, while a third patient who sustained injuries had to be secured in a Stokes basket and raised by a low-angle rope rescue system set up by the district's Technical Rescue Team. The third occupant escaped without injury, and two patients were transported to local hospitals with injuries, per AMR.
Firefighters also worked to free the four animals trapped inside the sinking car, rescuing two dogs and two cats and bringing them up the embankment safely. Responding units included BC303, E309, E311, HR305, T316, and WR319, and the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office and AMR also responded to the scene, per Clackamas Fire's account. The sheriff's office is now investigating the cause of the crash, though the specific factors under review have not been detailed.
How Crews Pulled Off the Steep-Slope Rescue
The rope system used to raise the injured patient relies on securing the person inside a rigid Stokes basket stretcher that's then hauled up steep terrain using a mechanical rope system, rather than relying on responders to carry someone up unstable ground by hand, according to Unofficial Networks. Clackamas Fire District #1 maintains a dedicated Technical Rescue Team trained in both low-angle and high-angle rope rescues specifically to handle extractions along steep roadside embankments, ravines, and waterways across the county, Hoodline has reported.
Among the units that responded, Heavy Rescue 305 is stationed at Station 5 in Happy Valley and serves as the district's primary apparatus for rope rescues, heavy vehicle extrications, and structural collapse response. Truck 316, another unit on scene, is based out of Clackamas Fire's Hilltop Station 16 in Oregon City, which opened in February 2019 to provide dedicated ladder and rescue coverage for the surrounding area.
A Rural Road With Known Hazards
South Bradley Road is a narrow, two-lane rural route in unincorporated Clackamas County that connects to other local thoroughfares including South Beavercreek Road and South Forsythe Road, winding through wooded terrain south of Oregon City. Research published by the Oregon Department of Transportation has found that run-off-road departures on rural two-lane roads carry an elevated risk of severe injury, particularly along segments bordered by steep slopes, trees, or water hazards — conditions that mirror the setting of Wednesday's crash.
Under Oregon law, drivers involved in a crash resulting in injury, death, or property damage exceeding $2,500 are required to file an official Oregon Traffic Crash Report with the state's Driver and Motor Vehicle Services Division within 72 hours. Clackamas Fire District #1 covers a 235-square-mile area that includes Oregon City, Happy Valley, Milwaukie, Johnson City, and surrounding unincorporated parts of Clackamas County, making this the kind of remote roadway rescue its regional units train for.
Not the First Rope Rescue This Year
This isn't the district's first steep-slope rope rescue in recent months. Hoodline reported on an injured swimmer hauled up a cliff along the Molalla River in August and flown to a Portland trauma center. And in May, the same Technical Rescue Team used an identical low-angle rope operation with a Stokes basket to lift an injured person 60 feet up a steep hillside on South Butte Creek Road elsewhere in rural Clackamas County, per Unofficial Networks.
The condition of the two hospitalized patients from Wednesday's South Bradley Road crash has not been released, and it remains unclear what specifically led the vehicle to leave the roadway. The Clackamas County Sheriff's Office investigation into the cause of the crash is ongoing.
