East Pierce technical rescue near Victor Falls

The Technical Rescue Teams from East Pierce Fire and Rescue and the Pierce County Sheriffs Department responded to a hiker who had fallen down a steep embankment at Victor Falls, near Bonney Lake Friday afternoon at 4 p.m.

The Technical Rescue Teams from East Pierce Fire and Rescue and the Pierce County Sheriffs Department responded to a hiker who had fallen down a steep embankment at Victor Falls, near Bonney Lake Friday afternoon at 4 p.m.

Three friends were climbing up the densely-forested cliff when one of them lost her footing, sliding feet first approximately half way down the 70-foot drop to the creek below, before landing on a pile of logs that stopped her fall. While she was not seriously injured, she could not make it the rest of the way up the embankment.

An East Pierce firefighter/paramedic was able to get to the patient and assess her injuries. Meanwhile, the rescue teams constructed an elaborate rope system to lower a litter and bring her the rest of the way up the embankment.

The patient was transported with non-life threatening injuries to a local hospital. Nearly 20 responders participated in the rescue.