BONNEY LAKE, Wash. — There was a dramatic rescue in the South Sound after a teenager fell off a cliff at Victor Falls Park which is closed to the public.
It was a challenging rescue for crews. The teenager fell some 100 feet onto the rocks below in an off-limits area of the park.
The first East Pierce and Rescue crews were able to get to him pretty quickly.
“Medically stabilized the patient,” said East Pierce Asst. Fire Chief Bill Sandlian. “Did triage on the patient.”
That is when they put out the call to Central Pierce for a technical rescue rope team that specializes in rescues in treacherous, uneven terrain.
“They set up the rope rescue system, the vertical rope, and assisted in getting the patient on that rope system into a scopes basket,” said Sandlian, describing the lengthy process. “These are very challenging.
This rescue came just as East Pierce Fire and Rescue crews were coming off one of the busiest July Fourth holidays in its history.
Fire crews there answered more than 80 calls in 24 hours, including two house fires and a fire at an apartment building.
“Epic, that’s exactly right,” said Assistant Fire Chief Jeff Moore.
That is how Moore described what East Pierce firefighters faced on July Fourth.
“Forty-two brush fires and then throw in two residential fires and an apartment complex fire!” he exclaimed. “Yeah, that’s what we did. We were just like ‘What is going on?’”
The good news is that during the rescue no one died but the teenager is seriously hurt. He damaged his back and his head when he fell.
The City of Bonney Lake has been trying to keep people away from Victor Falls since a man in his 50s fell to his death in 2019. They even put up a fence.
Firefighters said it looks like this teenager, described as 16 or 17, and a friend simply went around the fence, with disastrous consequences.
It is a stark reminder that the area is off-limits for safety.
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