A 26-year-old woman who had suffered an ankle or leg injury was brought to safety up a steep incline at the Sooke Potholes on Monday night.
Sooke Fire Rescue was called about 5:30 p.m. and arrived to find the woman in the Sooke River at the base of the incline, where Fire Chief Kenn Mount said it is believed she had been jumping from rock to rock.
“Thankfully, it wasn’t a long fall because it was a dangerous, hazardous working area,” Mount said. “We had to end up taking down some fences and making a pathway to extricate the patient.”
There were two other people at the scene with her who assisted rescue crews, he said.
Mount said the site of the incident took some time to locate.
Three firefighters had to rappel down the embankment to reach the woman, then make their way back up to get her to waiting B.C. Ambulance crews.
Juan de Fuca Search and Rescue was on backup “just in case we had a Plan B to do a swift-water extrication,” Mount said.
Sooke Fire Rescue had a number of vehicles there, and a vehicle from the Metchosin Fire Department also attended, he said.
Mount said he wasn’t on his way home until about 10:30 p.m.
“It turned into about a five- or six-hour venture with all the cleanup and prepping gear.”
Complicating matters was the fact that a couple of 911 calls from Sooke came in during the operation.
“So it was definitely a difficult day,” Mount said.
He said that after a record-low number of calls for the department in May, “we had a bit of spike to start June.”
