Coast Guard Cape Disappointment Pacific NorthWest | Season 1 - Episode 1 | Full Episode

The

coast

guard

is in Cape Deception and the Pacific Northwest. Here the missions are as threatening as the terrain. A helicopter crew from Astoria departs with the crew of the Cape Deceptions ship when four sailors are thrown into the icy waters of the Columbia River. I'm going to put a rescue swimmer behind it's a double whammy, let's go and crews join the rescue effort When a violent accident leaves two men badly burned on a cargo ship When you have burns, it can be extremely painful to see their faces. I only knew that they were burned and that they needed help the high peaks and turbulent waters make

cape

deception and the

pacific

northwest

one of the most dangerous environments in north america at the heart of it all is the columbia river bar this deadly area is has taken down countless vessels and claimed hundreds of lives in the air and at sea, brave men and women of the US Coast Guard risk their own safety so that others can live in a place known as the Cemetery of the

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deception captain what is your position captain, how many people are in the water and captain, what is your position, do you understand captain, that is a good copy, standing by, we will get you help Aj Washington, I'm a sailor here at Cape Disappointment Station, I was working in communications? center when the distress call came for four people in the water on the north side of the Columbia River captain, can you still see the other people that existed?

I have one person with me, two others, that is a hundred yards away, Roger captain, we have a helicopter. En route we also have a motor lifeboat and a fast and route responsible to your position. I kept telling him that they were on their way to his position just to comfort him a little more. It was quite stressful for me because I don't I don't want to be the last person he talks to it sounds like there's a book overturned it's like he's moving forward I mean I heard him say movie okay patrick o'brien bm2 station cabo

disappointment

clear lines immediately when I hear four people entering the water here station cabo

disappointment

river bar columbia you don't have much time to get out there they are just pushing them further out to sea the water is cold if we can't get to them quickly they can definitely go into stages of hypothermia and that's something that we really don't like to see well 207. we are underway since two minutes ago we are going to launch the lifeboat with engine 47 we already have a 25 rbs underway and a thread is being everett we still don't do it I still have a position for the person in the water, so being able to throw all those assets and have a lot more eyes watching will definitely help sailors on the water.

Good morning, good morning, oh my God, the conditions we were in are sloppy. where the snot tide was going out and that is a common thing in the Columbia River bar, every time it goes out the current, wind and tide work against each other, however it was important that we put an asset in place immediately to possibly get people out. of the water, I don't know what the report was from the bar this morning, but we might want to get it up, yeah, because of the high swell, the helicopter can definitely get a better view of everything around that entrance in a much better way.

Fast as we can in the water, okay guys, let's get to the scene, keep your eyes open, we're looking for four people in the water, he has to be here somewhere, Lt. Commander Dan Leary, Aircraft Commander mh-60t, secretary clinton, command center happened that someone in the water actually had a radio, let's see if we can get this guy, contact us, see if you can see us, we went up 16, started talking to us right away, person in the water, coast guard, 6-0- 1-3, are we east or west of you right now? I can't see you, understood, can you see the north jetty?

I can't see any teddy bears. I can always lose the ball on the green, very hard, understood. I'll follow the lines of the buoys, sir, hey, I'm in the water and I'll buy a green buoy. It wasn't a latitude or longitude, but it was enough for us to go. Well, we know where all the green buoys are. Let's go in personally. The water approaches the next green buoy. Do you see us? I'm Amt3 Flight Mechanic Rashad Gibson here in the Columbia River Sector. Me and Petty Officer Lesky are practically looking left and right, up and down, from our point of view, as much as we can.

I see from the side of the helicopter and the pilots in front. I see a helicopter in the sky. Roger, are we coming to you? We'll be looking for you if we pass. Call Mark. This guy is in the water talking on the radio. I mean, this guy was cool as a cucumber. Roger will turn slightly to the right. Daryl. We are getting closer. Why don't you prepare? How far away are we? Mister. He is here. If he stays on that course, he'll pass me. Knows? one minute can make the difference five minutes can make the difference between someone living and dying so I put on my rescue gear mark we got you then mark mark mark there they are there are two groups of people two right here at two o'clock and then another two about 200 meters away we are going to put a rescue swimmer behind us we have it visually now how many people are in the water sir there are four of them four understood we have them all accounted for we see all of you I knew you were cold I knew you were probably hypothermic just I wanted to get down as soon as I could two guys next to the cooler seem to be fighting, let's get them first. two more 47's on the scene, we have two more people in the water just north of us, there were two different groups so we called a small boat from Cape Deception to rescue the other two, it's a one-two punch really 200 yards north of where they were.

They're riding, okay guys, I'm there, so we might be bumping into each other a little. Wait, when I approach the two guys, I asked them who wants to go first, there was no answer and one person has to go. first, then they'll both go up, just take one and go find a guy, buy his life jacket and take care of him, call a gear tow, okay, a survivor is pretty tough, any way you look at it, you want be efficient, you want to be good. in what you do and you want to take care of the person on the other end of the hook and the survivor of the survivor is right next to the nose, so once we have the first survivor on the plane, we will recover the second one as quickly as we can.

I can understand that obviously in that kind of cold water, the more time passes, the closer you get to hypothermia, the star alarm goes off, what we hear is four people in the water near one of the green buoys on the Columbia River. Back off, so once we get the first survivor on the plane, we'll get the second one back as quickly as we can. This guy has hypothermia. What hypothermia does is that all the blood goes to the core and the blood vessels in the extremities, such as the arms. and your legs get restricted and then your hands and your muscles don't work as well so I don't think they could have gotten the basket on their own so we got this last guy in the basket and then he was ready to go back and I got survivors number three and four, but then when I looked, I saw that the small boat was there from the water.

Roger, we have two survivors on board. We confirmed that there were four people in the water. We have two. The second survivor was in much worse condition. uh pediatric down there is the only thing stopping us from returning to the station halfway. I picked up petty officer lechesky and took him to the cabin so he could begin administering first aid channel 162 we are going to the base as quickly as possible. as much as possible to get these guys to the ambulance when these guys walked into the cabin they were absolutely frigid I mean their hands were clenched I mean we got them in just in time these guys are sad until we get there uh no I am. we're going to break down all that equipment so they're hypothermic we don't have time to stop we need to get them to a higher level of care as quickly as possible five six oh seven would I recommend uh let's get two gentlemen put them on 07. uh the announcement It's actually picked up on the bar, it's much safer to ride the O7, so while the 25 was able to blow those men out of the water, the 25 is designed for speed, not necessarily the stability factor. now we are dealing with six to eight feet out there, we needed to get them to the 47 and inside the cabin that way we would warm them up and give them a stable ride home.

I know you're comfortable, okay, just with your head. that way to him, there you go brother, we'll make you go, just sit down and uh, get yourself nice and tidy in that survivor compartment, sir, okay, put on your life jackets and secure them down there, let me know, as uncomfortable as it is to be. You may need to remove your wet clothing while we load you on board. They know we want to take them down to the survivor compartment. Take off their wet clothes. Heat them as quickly as possible. I'm glad you can come. on board today thank you thank you for resting oh no problem that's what we do and we're really just making sure that you understand that you're going to be okay, you just went through a traumatic experience when your boat flipped so we want to calm you down and really you know, look for any other signs of shock, the laptop is on board, sir, that was fantastic, these gentlemen went out fishing and ended up literally in the middle of nowhere, that radio they had saved their lives they were able to coordinate that helicopter to locate them and then the necessary resources picked them up and took them home how are you feeling are you still feeling good excellent being able to recover four people from the water it's not just a rescue station it's a coast guard rescue it's really amazing what we do when you look back and see people there and say wow we helped save them, they would have died if we didn't help them save them alive, save, okay guys. the other two, so this case really captures what we do here in the Pacific Northwest.

We had a helicopter from Air Station Astoria on scene with two small boats from Cape Decepcion and this led to a quick rescue of four sailors and that's what it's all about. Save lives and get everyone home safe so yesterday we had a boat capsize right outside the Columbia River looking for these guys not only did they save their lives but property was saved so we have to tow their boat to the local jetty here and retrieve it. I come back to them, so they should be

full

of good mood, that's right, yes, your boat looks horrible out there, look at it in the water.

I'm Matthew Tucker, I'm from Dundee, Oregon, and three of my friends and I went fishing. the ocean and cross the bar of the Columbia River and we didn't do it right, let it go, Matt, yeah, I got it, a convergence of waves and a wind break and a swirl back, they all came together and blew my windshield off and it was then when he converted. Not so good and I ordered everyone off the boat two seconds later, that same wave picked him up and flipped him like a pancake. Did you think you would see this again?

No, we sure thought it was done, yes, we thought it was done. We thought we were done. We would all feel very blessed if I hadn't gone under the water with this radio. I think we would have done it. You know, you can't thank anyone enough for that kind of help. Thank you so much. Watch out guys, the coast guard didn't just do it for me, they did it for me, my friends and all their families, they saved our lifetime. The Columbia River Bar is truly one of the world's most dangerous stretches of ocean known. Here, like the Graveyard of the Pacific, we train our crews to be ready to respond to any of the conditions that Cape Deception may throw at them.

Look at this dance, let's analyze it. Lieutenant Scott McGrew. Station Commander. Cape. at the mouth of the columbia river, where the great western river, as it was once known, meets the north pacific ocean and you have all the water from the columbia river heading straight into these giant waves, the waves get steeper, They slow down and that creates a stretch at the entrance here known as the bar that simply creates misery for the fishermen, the commercial boats that ply these waters and the coast guard that ensures their safety when they cross it is truly one of the most dangerous stretches of ocean. dangerous in the known world.

Here, like the Pacific Graveyard, has been the scene of numerous disasters, shipwrecks, you know, those things go back hundreds of years and are still going on today. We have lost several Coast Guard cutters here on the bar, which is why we strive to train our crews to be prepared to respond to any of the conditions that that Cape disappointment may throw at them. Force clearance aboard Petty Officer Schneider. I'm a fellow braggart at Cape Deception Station. Today is my 47th trip to surf and check out. It certifies me to operate the boats in the harshest conditions they are designed for my surf check trip it is the culmination of all the training I did do nothing to impress usjust do what you would do like it was tomorrow and you are the certified surfer on the boat the surfer position is a unique position in our coast guard it is the highest level certification there is in the coast guard in the world of small boats only There are about 100 active surfers at any one time.

Petty Officer Snyder has been in the surfing community for quite some time. He has been working on this rating for a long time. He's providing one last challenging scenario before we put the marker down next week. He looks between 12 and 16 feet on the beach. He is windy. He is raining. He will be one of those wretches. to have wet days the boat, so I hope to pass, but I guess we'll find out at the end of this watch, this dan, let's break it down. Schneider, I think he probably could have been a surfer a year ago, he took one more winter to make sure he was ready and that really is a testament to what it means to be a surfer: you know, you know your limitations, you know the crew counts. with you not only to go out and rescue sailors in distress, but also to bring back the crew.

At the same time, it was a real challenge. I was very impressed. There was no room for delicacy today. The surfman check tour went very well. I think we had some really challenging conditions and we really tested Petty Officer Schneider. He did very well. In really challenging circumstances, a lot of wind and a lot of double waves, very tight and very close together waves and a lot of aerated water, all the things that make operating a boat in the surf a challenge and he went out and accomplished the mission and brought us all back and those It's good news, it's a great feeling, it's been a long road and a long training process and many days off spent here working when you could have been at home with your family, but with certification comes great responsibility and, uh I know none of us want to be able to take the boat out in that situation.

Not being prepared that way. We will bring our crew back safely. We can actually execute the mission because unfortunately we don't receive these calls when there is sun and light. we have to prepare for the worst call, go ahead, while a boat takes on water, two people on board, the water continues to rise, received captain, we are launching a rescue helicopter, I don't know why it has all these lines down, I mean , I. I'm really not crazy about leaving our summer down there. Things can back up and back up into the rotor system. Lower the helicopter when you see their faces.

They just knew they were burned out and needed help. He doesn't keep up with the water. What you need. You are now a Pump Roger captain, let them know we are launching a rescue helicopter. I'll join at seven. It's closing time just before. My name is Lieutenant Jim Harkins. A ship about 60 miles west of here was taking on water. up and we head towards the coast, okay, everything is ready, let's go, what 60 or so miles from the coast won the street ball both third class companions in the Cape Station rendezvous, we don't know how serious was the flood, about two people on board, two dogs launched at 47 I knew when it would be a long response, we prepared to leave, Corporal 207, we requested updated position, current course and speed, also be him on Nathan Burns, it seems that will be able to get out quickly doing 180 miles per year. hour and the boat is only going 25 miles per hour, but the boat can stay in place for 10 to 15 hours and maintain a stable platform right next to the boat in case we need to get people out of the water, they are doing about five knots towards us, we are doing about 25 knots towards them, so in a little over two hours, hope

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y, we will arrive on scene, harvest moon, sector 3, columbia river, a request to know if the captain can maintain control of the flood, it is not progressing with the flood, so The water continues to rise as we leave, we overhear a conversation between Harvest Moon and the coast guard who was transmitting information to hatter 3.

Coast Guard, this is Harvest Moon 3. Now we also have to the wife on board our ship. We're going to move her hard life raft to the stern of her boat and let it hang from the center of her boat in case she needs to get on it real quick. We understood that there was a woman on board who had been transferred. to the other boat and a couple of dogs, so all we knew is that the captain of Hatter 3 was the only one on board the boat. Ideally, we'll leave you without a row of trays. I'm just afraid that if we stop the boat at any time we can hear something that can make the flooding worse the boat is filling with water it's not just about the people it's also losing the boat it also has to do with the pollution that the boat may cause, it may have fuel.

Whatever that causes problems for the environment, there is the ship about 18 miles here, of course, we want to reach the best speed, so that this ship does not sink, but we want to be very careful when you get there almost from the nose. Here the door opens and drops down to 100 feet when you arrived on the scene the boat was sailing a little low in the water. You see that there are a lot of lines that cross that area also hanging from that central mass. We also noticed that there was a lot of line in the water, so immediately when we see that we are worried about leaving our rescue swimmer on the ground, I don't know why he has all these lines on the ground, maybe he was fishing and then he discovered that he was in trouble.

Now just him. I just had lunch, I have to go to the edge of secrecy, I say the boat takes a turn or whatever and the boss has to go swimming, I could tie him to those lines and now he's going for a ride with the boat, what do you think? Sir, can you put me in this thing? I'm going down to uh 16 to see it better. The best place would be where that thing is located. I agree that this particular boat had a fairly open stern, so we decided it was the best bet. with all the debris lift altitude will be 60 feet from what we have at the door, we are going to put up a trail line to help lower the swimmer every time we drop the cable, it definitely becomes a major hazard.

As far as this airline stuck in the deck position, putting the snapback recoil into the rotor system, you know, if it's heavy enough to take down the helicopter, it was a big risk to put the boss in that rig on the lines that approached the ship, but their stations. we were pretty calm, so we felt pretty comfortable being able to thread the needle directly into that spot. The briefing is on deck once we get into the boat. I quickly looked into the space and saw that it was flooding and continually flooding and I took the pump outside. we decided that they would immediately lower the pumps, I think they have a pump running zero one three rs continues to fly but we can keep up with a pump with a secondary on standby, that's right, we were able to keep Let's go to the point that we could turn off the pump.

We are entering as in any stellar case. What you have at that moment changes. He decided to keep going and sped up and when he sped up we started drinking more water. there's a lot of uncertainty when you have the swimmer down and he goes into the water when the votes roll over, it can happen quickly, almost you know, the point where everyone thinks everything is under control and within a minute or two everyone is swimming, in Let's actually slow down the boat and try to see if there is anything we can do to change the situation.

He feels that the situation is getting a little more tense. Well, you know you hear that the flooding is increasing. At what point is it too dangerous for them to stay? board, you have another area that is flooded, unfortunately it has about a foot and a half of water. Let's try to remove the water from that area as well. I'll let you know in about 10 15. She's been there quite a while. Now and fuel is always a problem, especially this far up the coast. I need to get out of here in about 20 minutes cheap, so I want to know how dangerous the situation is so you can stay on board while we go back for more fuel.

Let me see what I give you. I mean, would it be okay to leave him alone for an hour? I mean, I'm really not crazy for leaving our summer dinner when we were trying to figure out if we should leave right now, go back to get gas, go back out, we did. Not like that, I really didn't want to leave the swimmer behind, it's just never a good idea, there's also one on the left side so I'm assuming you have both set up. I see that there is a stream of water, obviously there is pressure. We're over it now, but then the boss came on the radio and said, "Hey, I think I'll be ready to go in about five minutes," so we thought, "Hey, that's great, we have a lot of gas, it looks like he's getting ready." his team".

We were able to pump both spaces were clear. I gave him a crash course on how to run one of our p1 pumps and once he was comfortable we decided to go ahead and head out. The armor of the boat is free of the deck. to back up and leave we knew the kp 47 foot was leaving and the skipper felt comfortable running the irrigation pumps until the 47 foot went unnoticed to escort it in summer it is inside the cabin always completes seven doors time to close just before his flight Well, sector 601.3 rtb this time because Alexandros played, so right in the middle of all this we received this other call in very broken English.

Alexandros Theos was a large motor boat. A kind of sudden fire broke out. A free sector is heading there with an AMC. and once we know the severity of the burns, we will have a place where we want to take care of them. We will be here for a week. There's all kinds of people having trouble today pie five five six car running score 2-0 how copy, they're right outside the buoy uh cr, looks like we're going to try to get our EMS team there. I am able to string bm1. We knew there would be a delayed response from the helicopter arriving on the scene, so he made it happen.

It's much more important for us to have an EMT and a crew member up there guys ready yeah k556 car running score 2-0 how copy we got a call while we were in an explosion of 25 uh fuel in a deep draft offshore. It looks like they are just outside the CR buoy and the line is being cast as well. Additionally, the helicopter had to return to the air station and refuel, so we knew there was going to be a delayed response from the helicopter. get to the scene, so it was much more important for us to have a paramedic and team member there to assess the situation, the burn itself can lead to shock and even death if not treated immediately, just ready, Ready, yeah, hit it. the ship was a deep draft cargo ship approximately seven and a half miles southwest of the columbia river entrance buoy wesley hall mktv station corporal disappointment we will be the first on the scene we will try to do our initial assessment and everything we can to stabilize these patients happy monday mayday monday is what we will call this day we chose the 25 foot rbs only because the response time was improved allowing our paramedic and crew member to be there much sooner.

Whether Alexander Theo on and around the Columbia River, we have a significant number of cargo ships from around the world, that traffic adds to the number of potential medical evacuation cases or maritime accidents that occur on the river. They came down the ladder right there, hey, do you think you can get close enough? We can hold on to it, whatever is easiest for you, bounce higher and watch you climb that ladder. I was maneuvering to get into position for the crew to climb the ladder. Are you OK? Yes I'm fine. We are next to the stern of a huge ship.

We're behind where her helm is and it's not a really comforting feeling how big her boat is versus how small our boat and the acom stairs are. Coming at you, that's a pretty scary place to be on that ladder, even though it was stationary, we had enough momentum that if one of us got caught between that and the boat, we would have been crushed. Go on his canvas, the helmsman was able to safely maneuver the boat. jump on board as best as possible, oh god we already had our gear passed so at that moment we headed to the ladder ready, we knew there was a 25 footer that was already on the scene with the alexander steels at that moment, but We actually had to go back to the air station first to get hot fuel.

I'm going to look into more CNC support and junk. The plan now is to fill up with gas. Let's take off all the unnecessary equipment because we are. We are looking at possibly two litter patients at the same time and I think to help the boss we are going to ask for another swimmer so we have another paramedic. We don't know how badly burned they are, that's the problem, so I just planned for the worst here, since they were on the ground, I went over to call for a second EMS so we would have twoqualified people and we went back out, you had a fire, these two gentlemen had second to third degree burns, blisters on the charred skin of the skin uh time is of the essence these gentlemen were burned our job at that time is to pack them for the helicopter You know it's funny sometimes that when people are in a situation like that they have a calm and cool demeanor and collected you will still be beautiful, believe me making jokes, will I still be pretty?

One thing he happened to me myself was uh, he asked me if he was going to be okay, the gentleman told me that he had a wife. He had a mother-in-law and a couple of daughters, we will take them to the helicopter and they will check them, we are here to take care of them and give them the help they need. out of nowhere that light of hope hits you in that gentleman's dark hour, so while we prepare the gentleman on board, the helicopter appears, first they will put their swimmer, so they decided to do a harness delivery, so they took me to deck, I met with the ship's crew members, they already had the information about both individuals and they took me to where they were located, seeing their faces, you never know what their expectations are, you will be safe, I promise. take good care of us for these two, they just knew they were burned out and needed help getting to the deck swimmer and I'm going to escort the trail line and the basket survivor to the basket and we get out one at a time because when you have burns that skin is loose those more than a hundred knots of wind coming down from the helicopter can be extremely painful getting off the deck maintaining the survivor position until the basket there were two people seriously burned on board and we got out one at a time because when you get burned you hurt that skin is loose those hundreds and more knots of wind coming down from the helicopter really start moving that around can be extremely painful they were both great getting out they literally walked and were able to get into the basket on themselves clear the waiting position on the deck sunbathing in the low cabin and they bring a basket inside the cabin.

This is definitely a great team effort today with uh kpd supporting us on both counts. The final approach returns. Looks like the fire department is ready to go. an ambulance and a fire truck here, so it's going to be a quick transfer to get these guys to the hospital. Everyone joins the coast guard for a different reason, but I think every rescue swimmer, every pilot, and every flight mechanic wants to do it for the long term. I know you did your best to help someone else close the course two three five chief Jeremiah Wolfe coast guard station corporal disappointment we got a call about hat three a boat that was taking on water a coast guard helicopter was dispatched to go down With a bomb, they were able to get the bomb on board and dehydrate the boat, but the water kept coming in and there was a high risk that the fairy 3 would sink, so we launched a 47-foot motor lifeboat to reach the scene, assist and monitor. the flood of three, I'm coast guard 207, just wanted to get an update on your current situation.

When we arrived on scene, I noticed the life raft was in place, he had his survival suit ready, he was pretty much ready to ditch. three hat ready dad okay come on come on man come on matt me and mk2 mcdonald jump in the boat okay we gotta get the water in here the water was coming in at a rate of about 1800 gallons per hour. We are anticipating an eight-hour transit and dehydration every 10 minutes. It's quite a bit of dehydration, but it's worth it to save the container. How much gas did you get out of that one?

One can was full longer than the trip home. I took my wife. and my dogs left and then I stayed on the boat as long as I could and the helicopter arrived in time with the bombs and saved the boat. This is fantastic work, well done. The captain of the fairy3 has owned the boat for over 40 years. The ship is his house and his home is his livelihood, so if this ship sank, this man would lose everything. I think the captain had about 1500 pounds of catch on board, the money that he had gone to earn, obviously he is going to help him. fix your boat, good luck, okay, thanks, okay, we're here.

My name is Bruce White. I have been fishing for 55 years. I had the hat for three for 41. I had approximately 10 minutes left. before the helicopter arrived and when they came to save you boy, there's no one else you'd rather see anywhere else than the coast guard. I was already on a different ship at the time watching what was going on. Words cannot express it so much. I would love to give you all a big hug thanks to the coast guard. I love you guys, what do you say? They came from the heavens to save me. Disappointment assistance from the station corporal.

Lieutenant Scott McGrew. Deployment of the coast guard station corporal. Gathering the crew to the front. from the Cape Decepcion lighthouse and where our watchtower is, you can see the bar of the Columbia River. The lighthouse has been standing watch there since 1851 and truly represents the surfing legacy of the Coast Guard that has served here on the Columbia River Bar and truly makes it a Special Environment US Department of Homeland Security Coast Guard the United States By this presence, you know that bm2 dan snyder has demonstrated superior knowledge and skills as a lifeboat coxswain and is certified as a surfer.

The station cage appointment falls and congratulates surf 478. We did our verification. I rode last week and today was my pinning ceremony. It's always great to get certifications, but you realize the responsibility you take on once you accept. You know it's wonderful that it's over, but once you become a surfer, you're expected to have the answer. knowing if it's right or wrong, you have to make some kind of decision and hopefully you'll do as much preparation as you can, go out and train as hard as you can so that when you make your decisions, it's the best decision you have. the information you get in that moment I have these guys focused on improving themselves when the crew is out there on that long search and rescue case and they know they have eight hours of rain and 18 foot seas ahead of them, that's that commitment . that type of person you know intestinal fortitude you're going to get dizzy you're going to be cold you're going to feel miserable but it's being able to go out knowing that you're going to be all those things and still go out and do the mission you still go out and do it and take those people. home with their families.