South Whidbey Firefighters Rappel Down Cliff to Rescue Trapped Dog in Clinton

A trapped dog on a steep Clinton cliffside sent roughly 10 South Whidbey Fire/EMS personnel into a rope-rescue operation Sunday afternoon, culminating in a firefighter being lowered 100 feet to retrieve the animal.

The call came in at approximately 4:45 p.m. on March 10. What followed required the kind of technical rope work more commonly associated with rescuing people: anchoring systems, rigging, and a rescuer descending a sheer cliff face to reach an animal that had no way to climb back up on its own.

The operation succeeded, though not without incident. The rescuer who made the 100-foot descent was bitten by the dog during the retrieval, a not-uncommon reaction from a frightened or disoriented animal. The bite did not result in injury serious enough to require medical attention.

South Whidbey Fire/EMS serves the southern portion of Whidbey Island, a territory that includes shoreline bluffs and rugged terrain where calls occasionally go well beyond structure fires and medical runs. The Clinton area, situated near the south end ferry terminal, has coastal geography that can turn a wandering pet's afternoon into a life-threatening situation.

The department did not release the name of the rescuer who made the descent or the name of the dog's owner. The dog's condition after the rescue was not specified in available information, though the successful extraction suggests the animal survived the ordeal intact.