A Sunday afternoon hike at Discovery Park took a dangerous turn when a person became trapped on a steep embankment, requiring Seattle firefighters to deploy a technical rope rescue operation to bring them to safety.
The Seattle Fire Department received the call shortly before 4 p.m. and arrived to find the patient stranded approximately 40 feet below the top of the embankment, seated on a narrow shelf of land with a reported minor injury and no clear way to climb out unaided. The terrain made a straightforward rescue impossible. Dense brush covered the slope, and the angle of the drop ruled out walking the patient back up.
Crews from Rescue Company 1 took the lead, methodically cutting through the heavy brush to carve a path down to where the patient was waiting. Firefighters were then lowered down the embankment on ropes to make direct contact, assess the patient’s condition, and prepare them for extraction.
Rather than hauling the patient back up the way they came, crews chose to lower them further down to the beach below using a Stokes basket, a metal frame stretcher used in technical rescues that keeps patients secure and protected during difficult extractions. Additional firefighters and medics were staged on the beach and ready to receive them when they arrived.
Medics evaluated the patient at the scene and found no serious injuries requiring hospital care. The patient declined transport and was released at the scene.
