By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
A man who fell some 20 feet off an old bridge onto large rocks in a remote area along the south shore of Riffe Lake last night was rescued and taken to Morton General Hospital.
Firefighters were called about 9 p.m. by an individual who boated across the lake, and got into a car to drive to get cell phone service, according to Lewis County Fire District 18.
“When we got to him, him and his wife were against the bank, but in the water,” Chief Ed Lowe said. “She wasn’t strong enough to get him out.”
The injured man, who Lowe said was in his 60s, was conscious, but he’d landed on rocks, hit his head, injured his shoulder and had a lot of cuts and bruises, Lowe said.
It happened at what’s called the old Landers Creek Bridge, at about the midpoint of the 13-mile long lake, actually a reservoir created by the Mossyrock Dam.
Morton resident Shaun Olinger said he, his wife and their 3-year-old daughter were camping in the area.
Olinger didn’t see it happen, but heard a “smack” like somebody bellyflopped, he said. Then he saw the man’s teenage son coming over the rocks in a panic, so distraught he was speechless.
“He dove in and swam the last 25 feet, and got his shoulder rolled to get his face out of the water, but that’s the best he could do,” Olinger said.
Olinger described the father as “big guy” who’d come to rest with his head down a slope, submerged to his hips.
“None of us was strong enough to get him out,” he said.
They managed to turn him around and get his head and shoulders upslope, he said.
The landscape there is a nightmare he said, with no real beach, very deep water and large pointed rocks covered in slime.
Olinger and the 17-year-old motored back to the Kosmos Boat Launch to call for help. Meanwhile, the victim’s wife, and Olinger’s wife Billie did what they could with a rope and a cushion to move him toward shallower water.
Seven firefighters from the Glenoma department responded, as well as three from Randle, according to Lowe.
“District 14 brought their boat, they have a marine boat now we can call on,” Lowe said.
The patient, who Olinger knows as a Mossyrock resident through mutual friends, was transported to Morton General Hospital.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
Sounds alcohol related.