A rural Clark County sheriff's deputy got an emotional surprise this month when he came face to face with the woman whose life he helped save three months earlier. Deputy Charlie Harris responded to an emergency involving a woman named Lieta in Amboy in July, performing CPR until firefighters and paramedics arrived and took over her care.
The Clark County Sheriff's Office shared a Facebook post.
Why Minutes Matter in Rural Amboy
The American Heart Association provides CPR information, and the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation reports median adult survival to hospital discharge of 10.4%.
Washington State has consistently performed well on this front. According to 2024 Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival data cited by the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation, the state recorded a bystander CPR rate of 53.6%, placing it among the nation's leaders in immediate CPR delivery. Early CPR can bridge the critical minutes until advanced medical care can take over.
Fire District 10
Clark County Fire District 10 covers an 84-square-mile service area with more than 10,000 residents across rural northern Clark County, operating out of six stations, including Station 101 in Amboy, per background from PNW Fire Trucks.
Staffing and Infrastructure Strain Across the Region
The Amboy case unfolded against a backdrop of stretched resources in rural Clark County. As of November 2025, the Clark County Sheriff's Office was managing 11 deputy vacancies despite hiring 23 new deputies that year, reflecting broader recruitment and retention challenges facing law enforcement agencies across the region, the Camas-Washougal Post-Record reported.
Fire District 10 has also been pressing for infrastructure upgrades. In August, the district submitted a $15.2 million bond measure to voters to replace its 1961-built headquarters station in Amboy, which officials say no longer meets modern seismic standards or has the space needed for expanded personnel and equipment, according to The Columbian. For a department fielding over a thousand calls a year out of an aging building, the ask reflects the same growing pains behind the emergency response that reached Lieta in July.
