Technical rescue team combines resources of coastal fire departments to handle the most treacherous of responses

By GARRET JAROS/Lincoln Chronicle

When Andy Parker attached the rope to his climbing harness and went backward over the cliff on the south side of Yaquina Head, he was expecting to find one, maybe two young surfers clinging to the rocks below.

The leader of the Lincoln County technical rescue team, which specializes in high-angle rope rescues and complex emergency extractions, had seen this before — surfers pushed by the tide into the rocks who then try to escape by climbing up.

A photograph hanging on the wall of the team’s meeting room commemorates that day in late May 2020 — a day when the unexpected happened and cooperation and teamwork made the improbable possible.

The technical rescue team marks its 15^th anniversary May 20. Since its inception as a way to pool resources and combine elite rescue efforts across the county, the team has responded to 161 calls and carried out 101 rescues.

The members, who are on call 24-hours-a-day seven days a week, are made up of 19 men and women from fire departments in Lincoln City, Depoe Bay, Newport, Siletz, Toledo, East Lincoln, Yachats and Nestucca.

The training and the capabilities of the team is beyond that of the average firefighter, says Parker, who is an engineer with the Newport Fire Department. Team members are climbers who bring expert knowledge and experience using specialized gear. They are also better equipped than the average firefighter.

Unexpected rescue

Parker credits the success of what turned out to be an unexpected rescue on the cliff of Yaquina Head in 2020 to the cross-training efforts between the team and the U.S. Coast Guard’s helicopter crew and rescue swimmers.

Parker, who was the first to go over the cliff in search of the stranded surfers, said rescuers are a “kind of blind when repelling into an area.” But he quickly located not only two young surfers clinging to the cliff some 70 feet above the water but also a couple of bystanders who had swum out to help and also became stranded.

And they were not the only ones.

“When I got down there, I realized I had seven patients,” Parker said. “I used every piece of gear on me to start tying off kids to make sure nobody was going to fall.”

Parker knew he would need the help of team members coming down after him, and he knew the Coast Guard helicopter hovering into position could only hoist two or three people before it would need to refuel.

But then the improbable happened.

Because of the joint training, Parker was able to communicate with the Coast Guard crew using their hand signals to communicate what was needed. And the Coast Guard in turn could rely on the team’s equipment instead of taking time to switch to their own, as they had in the past.

The helicopter was able to hoist six of the people to safety while the last was brought up by Parker and his team.

“And all of a sudden the call was already done,” Parker said. “It was really neat to see everything fall together that the Coast Guard and our team had worked on for about a year to implement.”

A Facebook post by Coast Guard Yaquina Bay at the time summed up the rescue by saying “three adults and four children were successfully rescued” after a rip tide had trapped the two young surfers and eventually family members and good Samaritans who tried to help.

Training and funding

The team was busy honing its skills last week on a different cliff at Yaquina Head, running through various scenarios with some team members clinging to the side of the cliff while others set up a tripod and rope suspension system to rescue them.

They meet at least once a month to train for hours, from daylight into darkness. They also help to train other agencies including the Oregon State Police, Army National Guard, and with the Georgia Pacific mill in Toledo.

“We work hand-and-hand with their emergency response team at the mill,” Parker said. “They cross-train with us as we do with them because if they have a technical need, which they have a lot of, we’re going in to work with them and either assist or back them up.”

The non-profit team exists through a combination of grants, fundraising, fire departments pitching in and good equipment management, Parker said.

“And begging, borrowing and stealing whatever we could get over these last 15 years wherever we could get it,” he said. “If I had to replace all of our team’s software, equipment today – ropes, harnesses, gloves and anchor straps it would cost about $106,000.”

The team has about 2 1/2 miles of rope, which whether used or not must be replaced every 10 years to meet safety standards. Then there is all the hardware such as carabiners and many other devices used to secure, lower and lift.

No single fire department in the county could afford the equipment needed for these specialized rescues or supply the manpower needed, Parker said. The team sends an average of six to seven people to each call.

Unfortunately, even with contributions to its annual operating budget from county fire departments and Pacific West Ambulance – which in total account for about 70 percent of its budget – the team is always looking for new sources of funding. The Siletz Tribal Charitable Contributions Fund has been very generous, Parker said, and G-P has given money and equipment.

Answering the call

Many team members have cycled through the ranks over the years, most recruited from fire departments personnel looking for a new challenge or wanting to improve their skills.

Parker is one of the original three members still with the team after 15 years. But there is something about the team leader, rope specialist and instructor-trainer that is a bit difficult to reconcile.

“I used to be afraid of heights,” said Parker who once fell 40 feet from a ladder. “But this is something I enjoy. When I started with the fire service we ran structure fires a fair amount. Nowadays, we get a couple fires a year. Technical rescue brings another level of problem solving, which is what I really like to do. It brings another challenge that keeps me on my toes.”

While fire department calls today are 85 to 90 percent medical, the technical team is responding primarily to vehicles going off the road and crashing into difficult-to-reach places, or people falling while hiking or climbing.

And then there are days like one in February where the team spent the morning pulling a body from Devils Churn at Cape Perpetua and the afternoon rescuing a pilot after his airplane crashed into the trees at Wakonda Beach State Airport.

Team member and Yachats volunteer firefighter Max Stephens, who works as an arborist, was the one tapped to go after the 80-year-old pilot who stood in the cockpit of his wrecked plane looking down as rescuers cut through branches with chainsaws and then fastened a ladder to the tree to reach him.

“Being the tree guy on the team I was like – ‘A tree!’ ” Stephens said. “I got a bunch of calls from team members to ask if I was coming.”

Stephens said he joined the team for the unique situations and problem solving involved.

“And the patients we aid tend to be very critical calls with just a lot of potential to do a lot of good,” he added.

Team member Shannon Miller is sponsored by a fire department but is a deputy state fire marshal. In between taking photos of practice rescues at Yaquina Head, she said the training is what makes the difference.

“We have so much training,” she said. “It’s constant training, which makes it easier for us because we are prepared for whatever comes at us. If there’s something new, we figure out how to overcome the challenge presented. And then we review everything to see what if anything we could have done better. There’s always room for improvement.

“But they’ve taught me everything I know,” she added. “It’s a great team. A well-function, well-oiled machine. These people are rock stars.”

• Garret Jaros covers the communities of Yachats, Waldport, south Lincoln County and natural resources issues for Lincoln Chronicle and can be reached at [email protected]