The crew of Vancouver Fire Department’s Fireboat 1 Discovery battled strong currents to rescue a man who had jumped off the Interstate 5 Bridge into the Columbia River on Wednesday, according to the Vancouver Fire Department.
The incident began at 3:45 p.m. when callers told emergency dispatchers that a man had leapt from the midspan of the I-5 bridge and was holding on to pilings and a log in extremely swift water just downstream from the bridge.
The fireboat and three land-based units arrived after eight minutes and found the man weakening and falling off the log, a fire department statement said.
Crew members on the fireboat made what the statement described as an “invasive maneuver” to reach the man, turning partly broadside to the river current as they pulled him onto the boat.
The man, whose name was not released, was transported to a waiting AMR ambulance and taken to a hospital for his injuries, the statement said.
