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Missing rafters found safe

Raft deflated, man and daughters huddled on riverbank

The Columbian
Published: June 6, 2010, 12:00am

On 6/5/2010 at 8:25:25 PM Clark County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to assist in locating missing persons on the Lewis River. Members of a family had gotten into 2 inflatable rafts at Lewisville Park (on SR 503 north of Battle Ground) and had planned to float on the Lewis River to the Storedahl Pit access area. Family members in one raft reported last seeing 31 year old Heith Hammond and his two daughters (9 and 10 years of age) about 1/4 to 1/2 mile east of the Daybreak bridge. Heith’s raft was moving much slower so the other raft continued.

After waiting at the agreed extraction point for nearly 3 hours, family members called 911 to report Heith and his daughters as missing. It was reported that the children were wearing personal floatation devices.

Clark County Sheriff’s Office Deputies responded to Daybreak Park and began coordinating search efforts.

La Center Police Department, Portland Police Air Unit, the Regional Tactical Rescue Team (made up of Vancouver Fire and District 6 Fire), AMR, and about 20 ground searchers from Clark County Sheriff’s Office Civilian Search and Rescue Team, Clark County Search and Rescue Team, Silverstar Search and Rescue Team, and the Volcano Rescue Team, all responded to Clark County’s request for assistance. Many of the ground searchers had been involved in the all day search for the missing child in Multnomah County yet still responded to this call out.

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Two boats were deployed down the river, one from Daybreak to head downriver to the planned extraction point, and one from the original starting point at Lewisville Park to float down to the Daybreak boat ramp. The air unit flew the river looking with a FLIR, and ground units were deployed to the North and South side of the river to search East and West of the Daybreak bridge.

At approximately 00:27 hours, members of one of the boat teams announced they had located the family members. They were cold and wet, but uninjured. The raft they were using (a two person vinyl inflatable raft) had been punctured and deflated. Because of the recent rains and fast moving water, the family could not move off the sandy shore they were stranded on. They had lost their shoes so rescuers had to transport them by raft back to the boat launch at Daybreak Park. Once they arrived they were checked by AMR, released, and reunited with family.

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