Interview: Copter pilot details dramatic river rescue

The Snohomish County Sheriff’s Department provided this diagram of Wallace Falls, scene of the dramatic rescue of a 13-year-old boy who fell into the river and nearly plunged over the 270- foot falls.

The helicopter pilot who helped rescue a 13-year-old
boy from a raging river says it’s a miracle he didn’t
plunge to his death.

Bill Quistorf with the Snohomish County Sheriff’s
Department told Ross and Burbank in an interview, rescuers
are amazed the boy somehow managed to grab a tiny rock and
climb onto a 1-foot ledge just feet from the 270-foot drop
over raging Wallace Falls near Goldbar.

“There was no easy way to get to him,” Quistorf said.
“It’s a very narrow section of the river, probably 200-
foot
timber on both sides of him. There was no way we were
able to get to him using a helicopter hoist at that
point.”

Quistorf detailed how rescuers had to be lowered
hundreds of feet below the boy on a steep mountainside,
and one nearly had to be rescued himself after his rope
sheared on a sharp rock and he plummetted to the river
below. Only a backup rope saved him from the falls.

The boy was forced to endure 8 1/2 hours on the tiny
ledge and then spend hours more with rescuers before
Quistorf was finally able to reach them the following
morning and hoist them out of the narrow canyon.

“He was fairly calm and you can imagine what had gone
through his mind during that ordeal. He was basically,
exhausted, worn out from spending eight hours on that
ledge,” Quistorf said.

The Snohomish County Sheriff’s Department has released
dramatic video of the rescue.

“When you see the video, you’ll be amazed at the
situation he was in that in fact he somehow got himself
out of the water.”