Rescue crews hoist man to safety after he fell down a cliff on North Fork Lewis River

Rescue experts at 20 minutes after midnight hoisted to safety a 53-year-old man who fell down a steep cliff at Pekin Ferry Court while looking for his cat.

The case started about 10:20 p.m. Tuesday along the North Fork Lewis River.

Tim Dawdy, a battalion chief with Clark County Fire & Rescue, said firefighters took a boat to the shore.

They scrambled up the cliff to the man with a paramedic and determined that he was injured but not life-threatening, Dawdy said. The man is a Ridgefield resident.

Experts with the countywide Technical Rescue Team came to the top of the cliff with a truck with ropes, pulleys and other gear.

As of midnight, they had set up a system to hoist the man, in a rescue basket, up to the top.

“The patient’s on top,” a rescuer said at 18 minutes after midnight.

Dawdy said 17 rescuers worked the rescue, including AMR ambulance crews, sheriff’s deputies, CCF&R and the multi-agency Clark CountyTechnical Rescue Team.

John Branton: 360-735-4513 or john.branton@columbian.com.