Man, dog trapped in ravine for over 4 hours

BREMERTON, Wash. — Before 9 p.m., Central Kitsap Fire and Rescue received a call about a person stuck in a ravine in the 4300 block of Redwing Trail Northwest.

When firefighters arrived, they found Bill Palmer about 200 feet down the ravine and in the creek.

Palmer told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reporter Kevin McCarty about how he survived.

“That’s exactly the spot I was at, right there, where I ended up, somewhere down, where those fallen trees are down there,” said Palmer.

Central Kitsap Fire and Rescue officials said Palmer was extremely wet and had lost his shoes and glasses.

Palmer said he was walking with his dog, Jersey, around 5:30 p.m. They both fell, and couldn’t climb back out.

“I stopped once. I thought, yeah, it’s over, stood up, got my grip. I wasn’t done. Flipped right over again, again, again,” Palmer said.

He had been there for more than four hours, and his roommate called 911 after locating him.

“Every time, every time I would try to stand up to grab something in the dark, it would end up being a fern, not a tree, so backwards I go,” said Palmer.

Palmer ended up in Big Beef Creek while Jersey, who is deaf, stayed by his side.

After crews rescued Palmer, by using ropes, he was taken to Harrison Medical Center for possible hypothermia.

Crews cleared the scene at 11:34 p.m.

Palmer said he is glad to be alive, and admits there were times he thought he might not make it.

“There was a moment on that hill when I kept falling down. I couldn’t make it. There were some thoughts about my evil-doings in life, yeah,” Palmer said.

Palmer told KIRO 7 that emergency medical technicians told him his body temperature was around 89 degrees when he was finally rescued. One said if he had been in that ravine another hour, he would not have survived.

KIRO