A firefighter swam through deep, frigid water to reach a man who fell 35 feet from the top of a waterfall Monday evening, Sweet Home Fire says.
Units responded at 6:45 p.m. to a report that a man had fallen from the waterfall outside Cascadia, Oregon, near the Gordon Meadows road.
A captain from the Cascadia station was the first to arrive on scene.
He swam through cold water through a narrow canal with sheer cliffs on either side to reach the victim; the water was 20 feet deep at times.
He reached the victim - and rescuers went to work getting him out.
"The ambulance crew gathered rescue equipment including life jackets, ropes and a patient litter they on entered the water to make their way to the patient," the fire department said. "Additional Water rescue personnel were requested with wet suits to respond from the fire station in Sweet Home."