Clark-Cowlitz firefighters rescued a man and his two daughters from drowning in the East Fork Lewis River after their boat capsized Saturday afternoon.
Firefighters from Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue were dispatched around 1 p.m. to a report of a drowning east of Ridgefield.
The first crew arrived at 1:16 p.m. at an address on Northeast 51st Court and began to investigate the area while other crews investigated from different vantage points along the river.
The riverfront was difficult to access due to steep cliffs and terrain, overgrown brush and no established access points.
The first crew made its way through the heavy brush down to the riverfront, where they located a man and his 8-year-old daughter on the bank just west of Daybreak Park.
The man told the crew that he was traveling in a motorized boat from St. Helens, Ore., up the Lewis River with his 8- and 12-year-old daughters when his boat struck a collection of trees in the water. The boat started filling with water before capsizing, throwing the three into the river.
The man was able to keep his 8-year-old daughter with him throughout the incident. However, he told first responders that he saw his 12-year-old daughter go downstream, drifting toward the bank.
This information was relayed to responding crews, initiating a wide-area search. The Southwest Washington Technical Rescue Team was dispatched, along with Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue Raft 23.
Rescue swimmers accessed the water and conducted a search of the river. Technical Rescue Team members from the Vancouver Fire Department and Clark County Fire District 6 arrived on the scene and launched Raft 5 alongside Raft 23 for additional support.
Rescue swimmers located the 12-year-old girl downstream, roughly 100 yards from where the boat had capsized.
All three were then loaded into the rescue rafts and transported downstream to an established access point, where they were evaluated by a Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue paramedic. They were then transported by AMR ambulance to a local hospital, where they were found to be in stable condition despite a few cuts and bruises, according to a news release.
The man was not wearing a life jacket, but both of his daughters were.
Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue recommends always wearing a life jacket when boating.
“Given the air and water temperatures, along with the increased flow rates of the river, the proper wearing of life jackets most likely saved two lives today,” Clark County Fire & Rescue Capt. Blaine Dohman said in a news release.
Firefighters were at the scene until about 3 p.m.
