Technical Rescue Crew Pulls Hunter to Safety

Hillsboro Fire and Rescue’s Technical Rescue resources were dispatched Monday afternoon (8/29/11) to a report of a deer hunter who had fallen over a cliff in a remote area of northwestern Washington County. Our firefighters responded along with Banks Fire District crews to a section of timber managed by Longview Timber off of Sherman Hills Road. The hunter was reportedly okay and was communicating with emergency dispatchers via cell phone. He had fallen about 100 feet down a brushy, steep hillside and had caught himself on a tree limb just before he was about to fall nearly straight down another 40-feet.

Washington County Sheriff’s Deputy Dan Charter was able to locate 32-year old Jason Henry of Beaverton. Henry was blowing a whistle to help rescuers locate him.

Hillsboro Tech Rescue crews sent two firefighters down on ropes to assess Henry and ensure he was uninjured. Banks Firefighters and the remaining HFD crew set up a rope haul system to pull Henry and the two firefighters back up to the cliff top. He was unhurt.

Henry told firefighters he was bow hunting and was tracking a deer when he fell over the cliff’s edge. He was carrying water, a whistle, a knife and a cell phone. All of those items helped him survive this incident.