A Seattle Police Officer was the first to arrive and threw the man a life ring to help keep him afloat. Engine Company 17 arrived and was able to maneuver the swimmer to a nearby swim step and pull him out of the water.

The 31 year old male was alert, oriented and showed no signs of trauma. He was able to walk to the Medic Unit. The man was hypothermic and had been in the water for an undetermined amount of time.

The swimmer was taken to Harborview Medical Center to be treated for the hypothermia.

When firefighters arrived, they found the female patient trapped inside her rolled over Honda Minivan which was laying on its side. The female patient was able to communicate with firefighters and indicated she had minor injuries.

Firefighters from Ladder Company 9 used saws and other tools to cut the woman out of her minivan. The female patient was breathing, conscious and alert. Medics transported her to Harborview Medical Center with minor injuries.

Seattle Police Department Officers are investigating the cause of the accident.

The driver of the car, a male in his early 30’s, was transported to Harborview Medical Center by AMR with minor injuries. Seattle Fire Paramedics transported a 10-month old to Harborview Medical Center as a precaution. The driver was wearing a seatbelt and the infant was strapped into her back car seat.

Paramedics evaluated seven children on the school bus and found no visible injuries. The female school bus driver was examined and did not complain of any injuries.

Seattle Police Department officers are investigating the accident scene.

Photo Courtesy John Odegard

Around 1:30 p.m. dispatchers received a 9-1-1 call about the male in his 20’s trapped in a pit at the 700 block of Marion Street. When firefighters arrived, they found the man dangling 6 feet off the ground and stuck between a concrete shoring wall and a large drilling apparatus. The man was conscious and alert and talking.

Construction crews say the drilling apparatus chain broke causing the apparatus to lurch forward trapping the worker between the machine and the wall of under-construction parking garage.

The construction worker was freed by maneuvering his body around the steel equipment. The worker suffered head trauma and injuries to his ankle and leg. Medics transported the patient to Harborview Medical Center.

Multiple 911 calls came in shortly before 6:30pm reporting a jet skier without a lifejacket struggling in the waters off Seward Park. An eyewitness on a boat spotted the struggling swimmer and threw a lifejacket to the 21 year-old. When the swimmer didn’t grab the lifejacket, the eyewitness dove in and unsuccessfully tried to pull him above the waterline. The eyewitness then swam back to his boat and called 911.

Rescue crews arrived to find the man’s personal watercraft floating in the water. The Seattle Fire Department Technical Rescue Dive Team along with Seattle Police Harbor Patrol divers conducted an underwater search for the 21 year-old. The SPD’s Harbor Patrol Boat and a Seattle Fire Department Boat searched on the water while the U.S. Coast Guard Helicopter used a thermal imaging device to search from the air.

After more than an hour of scouring the 18 foot deep waters, the search turned into a recovery operation. The Seattle Police Department took command of the operation. At 9:30pm the SPD and the U.S. Coast Guard called off the recovery operation for the night. SPD officers say they plan to resume the search Thursday morning.

At 7:24 this morning a caller to 911 reported smoke pouring from a second floor unit of the motel located in the 4000 block of Airport Way South. Firefighters from Engine 13 were the first to arrive and found flames and heavy black smoke pouring from a second floor unit. Once inside the building, the firefighters found an unresponsive man in his 50’s in a second floor hallway. Several residents were attempting to carry the man downstairs. Firefighters pulled him from the building and began CPR. Within four chest compressions, the man began breathing. He suffered smoke inhalation and was transported by medics to Harborview Medical Center with life threatening injuries.

Another patient with pre-existing medical conditions was transported by AMR ambulance to Harborview in serious conditions. Medics examined and treated three other patients who declined to be transported to the hospital for further medical care. Hours later, another male resident was transported to a local hospital after complaining of a knee injury suffered while leaving the building.

Firefighters were able to contain the fire to just two units. The building had sprinklers in the hallways which kept the flames from spreading to other units. The owner of the building says there were 43 residents in the 40 motel units when the fire broke out.

The American Red Cross is on scene and set up a temporary shelter at Blaine Memorial United Methodist Church for 15 of the displaced residents.

The fire department advised the residents to stay out of the structure until the fire sprinkler system is fixed and the smoke damage can be mitigated.

The window washer told fire crews that he slid out of a seat and fell about 9 feet before his safety harness caught him. The man, who was in his 30’s, told fire personnel he was stuck about 20 minutes before somebody heard his cries and called 911.

The Technical Rescue Team responded with Ladder 7. While one team of firefighters went to the roof and prepared to rescue the man from above, another crew from Ladder 7 raised the ladder and was able to reach him from the ground. Firefighters found the window washer tangled up in his ropes. Once untangled, the window washer was able to climb down the fire truck ladder. Paramedics found the man to be shaken up but uninjured.

Once safely on the ground. The window washer thanked the fire department for rescuing him.

The Seattle Fire Department responded with Engine 6 and Ladder Trucks 3 and 7 along with the Department’s Dive Team while the Seattle Police Department brought in its Harbor Patrol boat. Aid Unit 4 and 5 along with Medic Unit 28 and 44 also responded to the scene, ready to treat and transport patients

A couple living on Lake Washington witnessed the boat in trouble. The couple called 911 and jumped in their 25-foot private boat and rescued a dozen of the teenagers. Seattle Police Department’s Harbor Patrol boat rescued the remaining teenagers and brought them to shore.

Seattle Fire Department Medics examined all of the patients who spent about 10 minutes in the water. The teenagers, ages 13 to 18, were cold and shaken-up but fine. None were transported to the hospital.

All of the teenagers were wearing lifejackets at the time of the accident. The president of the dragon boat club says the team practices for accidents like this and racing members are taught to hang on to the boat until help arrives.

The boat was towed to a nearby park.

When firefighters arrived, they found a woman in her 60’s with her foot wedged between the door of her car and the side of her garage. Apparently, the woman was unloading items from her car when the accident occurred. The driver was getting out of her driver’s side door when she accidentally pressed the accelerator, causing the car to lurch forward and wedge her foot between the door-well and the side of the garage.

It took about 20 minutes for the Heavy Rescue Unit to use a chain saw and cut a hole in the side of the garage, freeing the woman. The female patient was conscious, breathing and able to speak to paramedics. She was transported to Harborview Medical Center with a leg injury.

Around 5:45pm, the boy was hiking with his family when he climbed an approximately 8-foot-tall tall tree and a branch broke, causing the boy to fall several feet onto rocks.  The 911 caller said the boy regained consciousness after briefly being knocked unconscious.

A Seattle Fire Department Zodiak boat was already launched for a previous distressed swimmer call and was used to quickly transport the boy from a Discovery Park beach to the Shilshole Marina.  Paramedics met the boy and a Medic One unit transported him to Swedish Ballard. The boy was conscious, alert and talking and was in stable condition.