Firefighters from Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue were tasked with a number of challenges when they found a driver seriously injured after a crash down an embankment in Sherwood on Oct. 23.
ir skills during a technical rescue involving live power lines, a steep embankment, and a seriously injured driver in a van that had come to rest on its roof.
Firefighters arrived around 3:30 p.m. to find a broken power pole with live lines down on the road and called for PGE utilities.
After surveying for any dangers from the live power lines, firefighters were able to carefully pick their way along the side of the road and spot the wrecked van lying on its roof 20 feet down a steep embankment.
Firefighters from TVFR's Technical Rescue Team set up a system of picket anchors and ropes to lower firefighter paramedics to the wrecked vehicle and make contact with the patient. A separate crew of firefighters created a landing zone for a Life Flight helicopter.
Firefighters carefully removed the male driver of the van from his vehicle, placed him in a litter and raised him up the steep hillside using a rope system.
Back up on the road, the patient was stabilized and then loaded aboard a Life Flight helicopter for a flight to Oregon Health & Science University.
