Last summer on the day before school started, a 16-year-old girl swimming with family in the Stillaguamish River at the Lincoln Bridge went under, and didn’t resurface until her brother pulled her near-lifeless body to the inaccessible side of the shore.
Arlington fire personnel initiated lifesaving efforts after swimming to her location and floating her back on a plastic spine board, where she was rushed to a hospital and recovered after weeks in critical condition. Had it not been for family pulling her from the water, firefighters would not have been able to enter the water and initiate a beneath-the-surface rescue because they lacked the required training and certification.