Cedar Hill Fire Protection District and Northwest Towing worked for hours on Monday, July 22, to recover a boat from the Big River, near Morse Mill Park.
Chief Mick Fischer said four people were in the boat at the time it became stuck in the river and three managed to make it to shore before crews arrived at 11:44 a.m. The fourth man, the boat operator, stayed in the vessel while Cedar Hill Fire launched boats to try and work the boat free.
Fischer said the four people were in the Big River collecting soil samples for a government geological survey program. No one was injured during the boat recovery.
“We were hoping if we could get the boat loose, (the operator) could still drive the boat and get it to shore,” Fischer said. “We tried to tie our boat to the front of their boat to pull it loose. We wanted him (the operator) to move to the back of the boat and when he did, he accidentally knocked the anchor from the boat into the water, and the anchor was tied off to the upstream side of the boat.
“The anchor went under the boat and then pulled the upstream side (of the boat) down and allowed water to come into the boat.”
Fischer said once the boat began taking on water, it was determined that the vessel would need to be tugged free by a tow truck.
Battalion Chief Matt Shuster crossed a shallow portion of the river to the boat, where a bag was thrown to him with a tow hook inside. The boat was eventually pulled to shore at 2:53 p.m. with minimal damage, Fischer said.
“In a situation like that, it’s about trying to take your time and making sure you’re making all the right moves,” he said. “It was a challenge when we were moving the boat with the tow truck, trying to make sure we didn’t capsize the boat. Even though it was full of water, we were trying to keep it upright.”
Fischer credited Mark Bruce with Northwest Towing for helping with the boat recovery. He said it wasn’t easy for Bruce to make it down to the riverbank from Morse Mill Park in his tow truck, and the dam upriver also posed a challenge. The line of rocks forming the dam has come loose over the years, Fischer said, leaving large rocks downriver where the boat was wedged.
“Mark with Northwest Towing is a very, very skilled guy,” Fischer said. “If I had to choose any tow truck driver to be there, it would be him.”
Bruce said his family has owned Northwest Towing since 1981but this situation was fairly unique.
“I’ve done a couple (boat recoveries), but not many,” he said. “I’ve gotten cars out of the bottom of lakes before. My dad’s the owner (of Northwest Towing) and I was 14 when we bought it – I’ve been there a while and I’ve seen a lot.”
Fischer said Hillsboro Fire Protection District assisted on the scene. He said the four people in the boat managed to grab most of their belongings that had floated downstream during the recovery.
“Luckily, there wasn’t too much damage to the boat even though it had taken on water,” he said. “At the end of the day, we got the people and the boat out of the water. We were successful with that.”