The Curry County Sheriff’s Office, Search and Rescue and Marine Patrol as well as Jerry’s Rogue Jets, Agness-Illahe Fire & Rescue, Cal-Ore Ambulance and REACH air combined resources to evacuate an injured rafter in the lower Rogue River’s ‘Wild Section’ on Saturday.
On Saturday June 19th, during the downriver leg of a routine Saturday afternoon Jerry’s Rogue Jets Wilderness Whitewater Tour in the Rogue River’s ‘Wild’ Section, Pilot John Carl of Jerry’s Rogue Jets was flagged down by a group of rafters at the camping spot just above Solitude Rapid during the downriver leg, approximately 40 miles upriver.
A member of the raft party was observed laying near the water in need of medical assistance when Carl and the Jerry’s Rogue Jet arrived to the area. The injured party member had sustained a compound fracture of their lower leg.
John Carl radioed Paradise Lodge and requested they relay a message to Agness-Illahe Fire & Rescue for medical services to meet the commercial tour boat at Cougar Lane Lodge in Agness, 13 miles downstream. Members of the raft party fashioned a make-shift leg split from wood and gauze to stabilize the fractured leg. The injured person was floated by raft to the edge of the jet boat and loaded onto the back of the boat.
John Carl then asked his passengers if anyone on board was medically trained to assist and a passenger who is a registered nurse volunteered to assist the injured person for the boat trip downriver as Agness-Illahe Fire & Rescue notified Cal-Ore Ambulance service of the incident and mobilized REACH air, helicopter life-flight, to land in the parking lot of Cougar Lane Lodge in Agness.
John Carl of Jerry’s Rogue Jets arrived in Agness and delivered the patient to the awaiting ambulance service to receive immediate medical attention. In addition to the injured rafter on this day, John Carl was also transporting an injured hiker from the Rogue River trail that met the boat at Paradise Lodge. They had sustained a rolled ankle and could not continue their hike.
The ‘Wild’ Section of the Rogue River is a spectacular section of the river but also remote and difficult to access. This section can only be accessed by jet boat, downriver rafting and hiking. Jerry’s Rogue Jets is a valuable asset to the Rogue River community of power boaters, whitewater rafters, and hikers.
Jerry’s Rogue Jets is routinely first on scene for many waters related incidents and has always answered the call of duty. Thank you, Jerry’s Rogue Jets, John Carl, Paradise Lodge, Cal-Ore Life flight, and Agness-Illahe Fire & Resuce for the coordinated effort and efficient medical evacuation in the Rogue River’s ‘Wild’ Section.
