A man and a woman were rescued Monday night from the Columbia River after the inner tubes they were riding popped while they were in the water.
Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue received a mutual aid request for Fire Boat 24 from Columbia River Fire and Rescue at 10:20 p.m. The boat, an engine and a battalion chief were dispatched to River Mile 87 for two people in the river, according to an agency news release.
About 20 minutes later, Fire Boat 24 arrived and found both people were uninjured, wearing life jackets and clinging to a wooden pile in the middle of the river, just inside the Multnomah Channel, the agency said.
Multiple land-based units from Columbia County, Ore., responded and made visual contact with the people and provided lighting for the boat. Both people were assisted aboard Fire Boat 24 via the bow and taken to the St. Helens, Ore., marina, where paramedics were waiting. Several personal belongings and the popped inner tubes were later recovered from the river.
