Father with Children Rescued from Roaring River After Boat Capsizes

A remarkable rescue sees two young girls and their father saved after their boat hit an obstacle of a bunch of fallen trees.

The event occurred in the Lewis River, Washington rescuers revealed. A Fireman answered a mistaken emergency call about a drowning family near Ridgefield and found the dad with his 8-year-old girl holding on for dear life to the riverbank around 1:00 p.m. Saturday, on June 11, a Clark Cowlitz Fire Rescue news release revealed.

The rescue group of Firemen had to battle their way through cliffs, overgrown bush, and other troublesome territories to arrive at the pair, the report said. The dad told the heroes that their boat leaked water and overturned in the wake of hitting a bunch of fallen trees in the river, the firefighters said.

The father held onto his 8-year-old daughter to help keep her from washing away with the river, but his other daughter, 12 years old, drifted away downriver, the report said.

The Firemen’s rescue team urgently searched for the 12-year-old girl who was swept away by the stream. Thankfully it didn’t take too long before she was located and rescued as well. She was found about 100 yards downstream from where the father and his 8-year-old daughter were.

The heroes took the family to an area with better access, and from there all three were taken to a medical clinic in stable condition with vulnerability, one Fireman said. The report also mentioned that the two young ladies were in life jackets, and the father was not.

“Wearing the appropriate personal flotation device should always be part of safe boating,” firefighters continued. “Given the air and water temperatures, along with the increased flow rates of the river, the proper wearing of life jackets most likely saved two lives today.”

Ridgefield, a city just north of Portland, Oregon, has around 12,000 residents, and on this day three of them were kept safe from the first responders who don’t get enough credit – the Firefighters.

Boat overturns, ejects dad, 2 young girls into rugged river, Washington rescuers say https://t.co/tvvSXMFp63

— Miami Herald (@MiamiHerald) June 12, 2022

This is a story that could have ended so tragically, yet turned out to have a happy ending. The father also showed good fatherly instincts making sure that both of his children had life jackets, and if they only had two in the boat – he made sure they went to them first.

While the father can be given points for making sure his daughters are first and foremost safe, he could have also gone a step further to ensure an easier safeguard against the most tragic event. For example, one more life jacket in the boat and there would be enough to go around, and if there were already enough – he could have worn one as well. Every vessel should be well equipped before hitting any body of water to ensure you along with your passengers are as safe as can be.

Some basic gear you’d want to make sure you have on deck would be a first-aid kit, life jackets (for everyone,) emergency repair items and provisions, your cell phone, a knife, and some chargers with cords for your electronics should anything happen and you need to contact someone. There’s much more that goes into prepping a boat ride, and maybe the father did have a check next to this list (which is actually longer than shown here.) However, the one thing that matters was achieved, and that’s that the family gets to live another day with one another – Thank God and those brave Firefighters.