DIAMOND POINT — Quick-thinking neighbors and a Clallam County Fire District 3 first responder helped rescue a teen from the water after he fell through ice in a Diamond Point lagoon.
Battalion Chief Stef Anderson reported that witnesses called 9-1-1 around 10:36 a.m. Monday, saying someone fell into the ice and was “thrashing” around.
Anderson, a medic unit, a marine unit, rescue truck and volunteer aid car arrived to find the 14-year-old Seattle-area boy standing in about 3 feet of water attempting to break 3-inch-thick ice.
It’s unclear why he was on the ice, Anderson said, but she added he felt the ice was thick enough to walk on.
No one saw him fall in, she said, but residents spotted him in the lagoon surrounded by homes on South Diamond Shore Lane and Beach Drive.
He fell into the water about 60 feet from the shore. Firefighters estimated he had been in the water for 10-15 minutes and had broken enough ice to move within 30 feet of the shore before being rescued. The boy was initially conscious in the water and responding to those on the shore but within minutes became lethargic and disoriented.
Two bystanders threw the boy a rope with a buoy attached so he could grab it. When he did, he was asked to spin several times to secure him in the rope, Anderson said.
She and the two bystanders pulled him onto the ice and eventually to the shore.
The teen was moved to an aid car, Anderson said, where rapid rewarming procedures were started because he was exhibiting extreme signs of hypothermia and a decreased level of consciousness.
He was flown via LifeFlight from the Diamond Point Airport to Providence Everett, where he is expected to make a full recovery, Anderson said.
She thanked the bystanders for their quick thinking.
“I can’t give them enough credit for aggressively acting to help,” Anderson said.
After first responders arrived, a technical rescue team was requested but later canceled before it responded.
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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach him at matthew.nash@sequimgazette.com.
