COYLE — If you get rescued from the wilderness by helicopter and are flown to a medical center, chances are your only bill will be from the hospital.
Gary David, 46, of Quilcene, who was hoisted to safety by a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter after his leg was caught — forcing him to hang upside down over a cliff overlooking Tabook Bay for at least an hour Sunday night — was released from Harborview Medical Center on Tuesday night, a spokeswoman for the Seattle hospital said.
According to the agencies which responded to the scene on Sunday, David won’t need to worry about bills showing up in the mail.
Among the agencies at the scene near Camp Discovery Road were the U.S. Coast Guard and Navy, Quilcene Fire Department and neighboring departments, and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department.
Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Paul Roszkowski said the MH-65C helicopter and crew dispatched from Coast Guard Group/Air Station Port Angeles was simply doing its duty to hoist David into the orange copter.
“We don’t charge for our services,” Roszkowski said.
“The American taxpayer pays that bill.”
Sunday response
The rescue took more than three hours and required about 15 emergency personnel after David became entangled in a cable on the steep cliff.
Roszkowski said the helicopter which pulled him from the cliff costs $9,855 an hour to operate.
“We were active in the rescue for about four hours, so it’s a safe bet to say it cost around $40,000 to run the helicopter during that time.
“It’s obviously a ballpark figure, but that is pretty close to what it takes to get that helicopter going.”
Quilcene Fire Department interim Chief Moe Moser said he estimated there were 15 people involved in the rescue but didn’t have any idea how much it cost his department.
“The only time we charge is if we take a patient to a landing zone or transport them to a hospital by ambulance,” Moser said.
“We didn’t do that, so I have no idea how to estimate the cost of our services.”
Moser said David had used an old cable to climb up the bluff from the beach below.
“When he got up there, he apparently became entangled in the cable,” Moser said.
“He hung upside down for at least an hour,” Moser said.
David said he was investigating the cable and attempted to slide back down it using a rope he found on the cliff when his leg got caught in the rope.
“I thought I’d be stuck there forever and die,” David told a reporter from his hospital bed Monday.
“The closest people were quite aways away at the bottom of the hill on the beach,” David recalled.
Someone eventually heard his screams and called 9-1-1. Quilcene fire and rescue workers arrived around 8 p.m.
Tide rolls in
Moser said the tide had come in by the time crews arrived, and the location where the man was stuck had become accessible only by boat.
“A paramedic was taken out by a civilian boat and climbed up the cliff to reach the individual,” Moser said.
“The cliff was a soft, steep incline, and I made the decision to call in support to help get him out of there.”
Because of the heavily wooded location, ground crews were sent in to clear an area of trees with chain saws before the helicopter crew could attempt the rescue, Moser said.
The amount of trees cut was unknown, but the location suggests they may have been a part of a conservation area around Dabob Bay proposed by the state Department of Natural Resources.
The crew hoisted David into the helicopter at about 11:30 p.m. and flew him to Harborview Medical Center.
Support units from Port Ludlow Fire Rescue, Discovery Bay-Gardiner Fire District and Indian Island Fire also responded, and the Navy and Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office sent marine units to assist.
_________
Reporter Luke Duecy from KOMO-TV, a PDN news partner, contributed to this report.
Reporter Erik Hidle can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at erik.hidle@peninsuladailynews.com.
