2 in poor condition but alive due to attentive citizens

[Gary D.]

I just got the news info from Wallace Idaho. It is the next county over from us and we respond over there quite a bit. It’s mostly Alpine Lakes, Creeks and Rivers. All their water feeds our water.

For some reason a man holding a 2-year-old fell into the river as it passes through town. That section of river has steep concrete sides with basically no way out.

Witnesses reported that when they fell in the man hit his head on the wall. The two were swept approx. ½ mile down stream before by-standers, who jumped in, were able to get them out.

Sounds like CPR was done on both but as of the latest reports both are still alive in separate Spokane hospitals.

We have made several recoveries out of those waters over the years. It is not fun this time of the year. It’s cold snowmelt, fast moving and depth varies a lot.

A few years ago a famous movie star lost her daughter in that water around 5 miles from this incident. About 3 miles away and around 5 years ago we had 2 children die when they were thrown out the back window of a car that went into the river tail first. The boy was very hard to find and moved from one river to another “upstream” about 200 yards. To make matters worse he was black and dressed in olive colored clothing. That combination blended very well with the heavy vegetation along the riverbank.

Need some prayers for the two survivors. We are hoping the child is still alive. The hospital doesn’t have a last name and can’t get ahold of anyone so no info is being released.

Gary D.

 

[Gary D.]

Here is the local paper article.


Man, girl survive river fall

WALLACE -- Quick action by Shoshone County Sheriff's deputies and an EMT from Shoshone County Fire District 1 is credited with saving the life of a Wallace man and a young child Friday night.

According to Shoshone County Sheriff Chuck Reynalds, Dept. Thom Kolb was on foot patrol Friday night in the area behind the Sheriff's office around 8:23 p.m. when he saw a male with a child in his arms fall into the South Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River.

The man was identified as Warren Null, 50. The girl's name was not released but Reynalds said she is 2 years old and from the Wallace area. The girl's relationship to Null was not available.

Kolb notified other personnel and a search of the area was initiated immediately. All available SCSO officers, SCFD 1 personnel and citizens joined the search.

The victims were located and SCSO Cpl. Tom Pipkin and SCFD 1 EMT Greg Cummings entered the river to rescue the pair, Reynalds said. The two had traveled approximately a quarter mile from where they entered the water.

The child was pulled from the river by a citizen and the man was taken out by Pipkin, Reynalds said, adding that neither victim was responsive at the time of rescue. The river was running very high from the steady rainfall and the water temperature was extremely cold, Reynalds said.

Reynalds said CPR was initiated immediately and the two were first transported to Shoshone Medical Center in Kellogg. Later, Reynalds said Null was taken to Kootenai Medical Center in Coeur d'Alene while the girl was taken to Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane.

Both were reported to be in serious but stable condition on Saturday. Further details were not available.

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Here is a sat pic of the area.

The river runs just to the south of the freeway (I-90). You can zoom in and out to get better views.
http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?t=1&s=12&x=726&y=6572&z=11&w=1

Thanks to the quick action of LEO's and citizens the two are still alive and we were prevented from doing a "recovery".

Gary D.

 

[CBulla]

Its nice to see that people are willing to step up and lend a hand. Glad the man and child are alright, hope that no lasting trauma keeps the lil one from being a future diver