Rescuers pull driver to safety after crash south of Ridgefield

A vehicle tumbled down a steep, briar bush-filled embankment south of Ridgefield on Wednesday night, leading to a multiagency effort to rescue the driver.

The crash occurred about 9 p.m. near Northwest 209th Street and Northeast Delfel Road.

The driver did not appear to have any life-threatening injuries, said Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue Capt. Matt Woodford, who was at the scene along with responders from Clark County Fire District 6, AMR and the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.

It took “20-plus people for an otherwise bread-and-butter car over the embankment,” Woodford said. “But that’s what it takes to do it right, to do it safely for both the rescuers and the patients.”

Woodford said that if more people had been in the car, the response would have been larger.

The bend where Northeast Delfel Road turns into Northwest 209th Street has historically been a problem area, Woodford said.

“I knew that ditch because I’ve pulled people out of that ravine before,” Woodford said. “That corner is known to the district as a bad corner.”