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Medford couple rescue boyA Medford couple vacationing in the Reno area used quick wits and recent rescue training to pluck a Reno boy from the frigid Truckee River as a downtown crowd watched the drama unfold. Adam DeRose, a 9-1-1 dispatch supervisor for Southern Oregon Regional Communications in Medford, was testing his whitewater skills in a man-made kayak park on the Truckee River in downtown Reno on Wednesday. DeRose's wife, Dena DeRose, an advertising executive for the Mail Tribune, and a third kayaker waited in a quiet eddy close to shore. "You're getting thrown around pretty good so you don't want two people in the 'hole' at once," said Dena DeRose of the roiling water her husband was trying out. Suddenly, two boys approached the third kayaker. Whatever they said caused the man to leave his boat and follow them at a dead run. Moving out into the flow for a better view, Dena DeRose looked upriver and saw the man running back downstream. "There was definitely something wrong," she said. "I motioned Adam to grab his throw bag (a rescue rope) and go upstream. Within seconds he was motioning me to come, too." A 13-year-old boy playing near shore was swept downstream by strong currents. The DeRoses found him pinned against a bridge in the 50-degree water. The couple, both 29, quickly applied lessons from a swift-water rescue course they'd completed just two weeks ago at Kokopelli River Center in Ashland, says Dena DeRose. "We've been kayaking for four years," she said. "And we're running big enough water that we need to be able to rescue each other." The DeRoses first told the boy to grab on to the 70-foot rescue rope only until he was pulled free of the bridge, and then let go and swim to shore downriver. But that plan changed when the terrified boy screamed back, "I can't swim," Dena DeRose said. Battered by the cold water, the boy's predicament was already dire. That he could not swim and had no life jacket made a rescue attempt more urgent. "His head was above water," Dena DeRose said. "But he was cold and terrified. His eyes weren't even blinking." Adam DeRose heaved the full length of the 4-pound rescue rope across and slightly upriver from the struggling boy in an underhand toss. The rope floated straight downriver and snaked against the body of the stranded boy "and he grabbed it right away," said Dena DeRose. Four hands on the rope, the DeRoses used a rescue tactic called a "pendulum pull" to keep the boy away from a second bridge pylon while moving steadily across the river and toward shore. "We were all yelling, 'Don't let go! Don't let go!'," she said. "He was coming on his stomach. His head went under for awhile, but he held on." Reaching the relative safety of a gravel bar, Adam DeRose, a former volunteer firefighter and emergency medical technician, grabbed the boy, who was unable to stand. "He tried to stand up but he just collapsed to his knees," said Dena DeRose. The pair helped the boy across the bar, onto shore and into the arms of EMTs on scene thanks to a 9-1-1 call from a city parks employee. The third kayaker had also just arrived from the parking lot. He was carrying his rescue rope. "He'd left his rope in his truck," said Dena DeRose. "He said he'd never be on the river again without it." The whole incident probably lasted fewer than 15 minutes, the couple estimates. But they agree the life-saving lessons will last a lifetime. "We were just glad we knew what to do," said Dena DeRose, adding that she wrote swiftwater instructor Mike Mather about the rescue. "He said it was the coolest e-mail he'd ever gotten." The DeRoses don't know the name of the teen they rescued, but they may meet him if they accept an invitation for a special commendation from Reno's police chief. "It wasn't something we planned," said Dena DeRose of the rescue. "But it felt good to be able to help." |
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