FORKS — A 35-year-old man was rescued from a remote part of the Hoh Valley.
The man had fallen down a hill near the Hoh Mainline on Monday, said Lt. James Walsh of the U.S. Coast Guard.
Walsh, who piloted a rescue helicopter, said emergency services were able to reach the man but were unable to extricate him.
“He’d fallen maybe 100 or so feet, with a fractured skull, shoulder and leg,” Walsh said. “He’d fallen down about a 50-degree slope. The ground party couldn’t hike him out.”
The crew was told via dispatch that the man was an inmate taking part in a work group planting trees, Walsh said.
The Coast Guard mounted a rescue mission after receiving a request from Olympic National Park Rangers, Walsh said. Emergency services already on the scene were unable to retrieve him without hoisting capabilities.
The Coast Guard received the call at about 11:45 a.m. and left the Port Angeles base at 12:10 p.m., Walsh said.
The four-person crew, including Walsh, co-pilot Liam Ballantyne, flight mechanic Nathaniel Edwards and rescue swimmer Lucas Wengrin, arrived on the scene about 12:45 p.m., Walsh said.
When the crew arrived, emergency responders from Clallam County, Forks, Olympic National Park and Life Flight Network were located on a logging road about 300 feet above the man, Walsh said.
“We got passed the information that the Life Flight nurse had gone down there and stabilized the survivor,” Walsh said. “We did some analysis of the environmental conditions to size up where the wind was coming from in the valley and such. The weather was very favorable. We were in a good spot to get straight into working.”
The man and Michele Medlen, the Life Flight nurse, were located in a small clear cut, Walsh said.
“We deployed the rescue swimmer and our litter (stretcher) down from 180 feet,” Walsh said. “One hundred eighty feet down to the base of the clear-cut patch.”
The height was chosen to avoid down drafts and for obstacle clearance, Walsh said. One hundred eighty feet was just above the treeline.
After lowering Wengrin and the litter, the crew cleared the area and landed the helicopter on a nearby logging road, both to reduce the overhead noise and to reserve fuel, Walsh said. They returned to the site to hoist the man up 10 minutes later, he added.
After hoisting the man up, the helicopter landed near the other emergency service providers, where he was transferred into the care of Life Flight Network, Walsh said.
A video of the man being hoisted into the helicopter can be viewed on the U.S. Coast Guard Pacific Northwest Facebook page.
Life Flight Network flew the man to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Coast Guard Petty Officer Steve Stohrmaier said.
“If you are going into the backcountry or you’re adventuring in a remote location in Western Washington, it’s really fun to do that, just make sure that you have a plan for how you manage if you did get injured in the backcountry,” Walsh said. “So, either have communications or take somebody with you.”
Many hands make light work, said Walsh, who added he was grateful to play a role in the multi-agency rescue.
“This was a really cool case to do,” Walsh said. “Doing something as challenging as this, like a 180-foot precision hoist, it’s a team effort between all four crew members. We’re very excited that we get to do work like this and provide a service to local communities.”
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Reporter Elijah Sussman can be reached by email at elijah.sussman@sequimgazette.com.
