Paramedics Recall Idaho Hanging Truck Rescue

On March 15, 2021, members of Magic Valley Paramedics Special Operations Rescue Team (SORT) saved two people and their two dogs from inside a Ford F-350 truck hanging precariously over the 100-foot Malad Gorge in Idaho. The 67-year-old male driver and his 64-year-old wife were suspended within their seat belts looking straight down into the gorge, their pickup having gone over a bridge while hauling a 30-foot camping trailer. The only thing keeping the truck from falling into the deep canyon—and the occupants likely suffering fatal injuries upon impact—was the safety chain attached to the trailer. The trailer lay on its side on the bridge, acting as an anchor.

To get a paramedic’s eye view of these efforts, EMS World spoke with the three rope-rescue paramedic members of the SORT team: Chad Smith, Gerald Dillman, and Isaac Baker. They were the harnessed heroes who rappelled over the bridge’s side to extricate the couple and their dogs, despite the fact that the truck could have fallen at any moment. (To see the SORT team’s amazing aerial extraction online search hanging truck rescue in Google.)

The trio were quick to point out that the rescue was a team effort. In addition to the Magic Valley Paramedics’ Special Operations Rescue Team, the first responders who helped included those from Air St. Luke’s, Idaho Fish and Game, the Idaho State Police and Transportation Department; Gooding County EMS and sheriff’s personnel; and the Gooding, Jerome City, and Wendell fire departments.

A Startling Sight

According to an Idaho State Police news release, witnesses saw the driver lose control of his truck while crossing the bridge. “The truck and camper swerved, hitting the right shoulder barrier, then went left until the truck was sliding on the left-side guardrail,” the release explained. “The truck then tipped over the bridge, with the camper blocking both eastbound lanes. Only the safety chain attached between the truck and the camper kept the truck from falling.”

This was the startling sight that confronted the SORT team as they raced to the accident scene aboard an Air St. Luke’s helicopter. “It was like a scene you see in the movie,” says Smith, “except it was real life.”

To make matters worse, “we knew from previous rescue experiences that usually vehicles in this position end up at the bottom of the canyon, because they don’t stay hanging for very long,” Smith adds. “In fact, a few months prior we had a similar situation where a vehicle was hanging by its chains off the side of a dam,” says Dillman. “That vehicle ended up at the bottom of the canyon because the chains failed. And so we were all concerned because we were all on that call when it happened.”

No Time for Delay

Knowing how delicate the situation was, the SORT team sprang into action as soon as members hit the ground. “We knew we had to act fast to stand a chance,” Smith says. “We immediately set up our rapid-access roping equipment and got a rescuer hanging down at the pickup within six minutes of arriving on scene.”

A piece of good news was that a truck driver on scene had added a second set of chains to the truck to improve its holding power. Still, the fact that the rear axle was twisted and pulled away from the body didn’t add to anyone’s confidence. They knew the F-350’s frame was damaged and the occupants’ survival relied on the trailer hitch’s welds—and the trailer frame itself—remaining intact.

Fortunately, “by the time we had our systems set up and ready to go, we saw a tow truck driving in,” says Baker. “We backed them right up to the edge and took some of their equipment they use to pull and secure vehicles. I went over the edge on the driver’s side of the vehicle and secured a tow strap to the frame. I then handed it up to my partner so he could hold on to it—that way I could get away from there and off the bridge before we fully secured it to that tow truck.”

Time for Plan B

In a perfect world the SORT team would have employed their “Plan A” to rescue the truck’s occupants. Plan A called for the three rescuers to rappel down to the pickup, open the doors, and then attach the people and animals out and lower them safely to the ground.

Unfortunately, due to the violence of the accident, “the doors were severely damaged, and we weren’t able to open them,” Smith says. “So we had to go to Plan B, which involved breaking the passenger window and extracting the occupants that way.” This had to be done in a manner that minimized the time the SORT team were reaching inside the truck cabin, in case something failed and the F-350 fell. The truck itself swayed at the slightest shift of weight.

It was up to Dillman to break the passenger-side window, gain access to the suspended cabin, and talk to the terrified occupants, then prepare them to be extracted. “Chad was able to assist me with the proper packaging equipment, the harness and webbing and everything I needed to secure them,” he recalls.

A key part of any such lifesaving battle is to keep the people being saved as calm as possible, in order not to make an already-terrible situation worse. “So I just introduced myself and Chad, and we tried to convey a sense of calm because calm is contagious,” Dillman says. “We got them to focus on something other than looking through the windshield at a 100-foot drop so they could participate to the fullest extent and focus on the fact that we’re there to rescue them.”

Dogs First?

It is hard enough to keep a suspended, swaying pickup truck under control when there are two people trapped inside. Add two terrified dogs weighing 15–20 pounds each moving around the cabin, and the challenge was magnified significantly.

This is why the SORT team decided to rescue the dogs first. They were zipped inside a duffel bag, then lowered to the ground out of harm’s way.

With the dogs safely evacuated, Dillman attended to the husband and wife next. Both were hooked to rescue harnesses, webbing, and ropes while still suspended in their seat belts. “Once they were connected to our system, I was able to tell them how to brace themselves so they didn’t get any secondary injuries when I cut their seat belts,” he says. “I cut the woman’s seat belt, manipulated her body through the passenger window, and handed her off to Chad. He then helped lower her to the ground, where an ambulance crew was standing by.”

The final occupant to be removed was the husband. “We had to remove a lot of debris to get access to him because his legs were entangled,” says Dillman. “Nevertheless, we were able to attach him to our rope rescue system, disentangle his legs, and talk him through the situation to make sure he understood what was going on and how he could assist. He was able to brace himself enough with his own power and my assistance that when I cut the seat belt, he didn’t have any sudden movements.”

Again, Plan B continued to work. “We didn’t cause any additional injuries,” Dillman says. (In fact, none of the occupants suffered life-threatening injuries during the entire incident.) “I was able to help the male patient out of the driver’s seat, across the vehicle, and transition him to Chad as smoothly as possible. And then Chad lowered him down to awaiting air ambulance and ground ambulance crews, where he got full assessment and medical treatment.”

“There’s great video where you see Gerry throwing a bunch of stuff out of the truck after he’s removed the first passenger,” Baker observes. “He had to throw out a cooler and a whole bunch of other stuff to get access to the second patient.”

Everyone Saved

Thanks to the tremendous teamwork and professionalism of everyone involved in the Malad Gorge rescue, all four occupants of the truck were safely extracted in just 43 minutes.

This was no small feat: “It’s a miracle those chains and everything else held long enough for us to get them out,” says Smith. “We had to be on our game because we were working against the clock for sure. But even doing our best, we needed everything to hold together long enough to pull off this rescue. Thankfully everything did.”

James Careless is a freelance writer and frequent contributor to EMS World.