A man survived a violent fall into McDonald Creek in Glacier National Park on Thursday after a bystander found him face down in the water, turned him over, pulled him to a shallow section and started CPR. Two Bear Air Rescue then hoisted him into a helicopter and flew him to safety.
He had fallen from an overlook and was swept over a set of waterfalls before the rescue began. After a short stint of CPR, he regained spontaneous circulation, an immediate turn that likely made the rest of the rescue possible.
That sequence matters because this was not a simple backcountry assist. The fall, the water, the waterfalls and the helicopter transfer all happened on the same day, in a setting where every minute counted and the first hands on scene were not rescuers. The bystander’s response bridged the gap until Two Bear Air Rescue and park rangers could take over.
Two Bear Air Rescue said this was the second river call in the last few days in which a citizen performed life-saving CPR. The group praised the quick action of the bystander and wished the victim a full and speedy recovery. Those words fit the facts: the man was stabilized and then taken to the hospital by an awaiting ALERT helicopter.
What remains unknown is what caused the fall from the overlook in the first place. What is known is that he was alive because someone acted immediately, and because a remote rescue chain moved fast enough to keep a bad fall from becoming a fatal one.
