A man was pulled from the Columbia River near the Vancouver waterfront on Tuesday afternoon after callers reported seeing him calling for help about 100 feet from shore. Two Vancouver Fire Department rescue swimmers jumped into the water and brought him to safety before he was taken to a hospital, where he was last reported to be in stable condition.
The Vancouver Fire Department learned at around 2:30 p.m. that a man was in the river, according to oregonlive.com. Crews responded to Waterfront Way west of Esther Street, where they found the man floating downstream, conscious but struggling to swim and calling for help, per the KOIN.com report from reporter Aimee Plante.
Rescue Swimmers Reach Him Just 20 Feet From Shore
Two rescue swimmers from the fire department entered the water and reached the man about 20 feet from the shoreline before bringing him back to land, the station's report states. Crews aboard a Portland Fire & Rescue boat then took him to a nearby dock, according to the same account from kptv.com. KOIN reported that he was transferred to a hospital by ambulance.
Officials said the man was expected to be okay, and he was last reported to be in stable condition after arriving at the hospital. His name has not been released, and officials have not said how he ended up in the river, per oregonlive.com.
Not the First Columbia River Rescue This Year
Tuesday's rescue was not an isolated incident along Vancouver's stretch of the Columbia River. In June, a woman was hospitalized after the Vancouver Fire Department rescued her from the river just west of Vancouver Waterfront Park, with crews dispatched at 3:07 p.m. to a report of a person floating near the railroad bridge, according to columbian.com.
In another river rescue on June 27, citizens aboard a nearby fishing boat located a person in the water and brought them aboard before Vancouver firefighters transferred the patient to Fire Boat 1 using its bow-loading rescue ramp, clarkcountytoday.com reported. That patient was also transported to a local hospital in satisfactory condition.
