Teen canoeist recounts BWCA rescue
Heidi Wigdahl
July 11, 2015
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- An injured teen canoeist is recovering back home in Rochester after spending more than six hours caught in rapids near the Minnesota-Canadian border. Earlier this week, Asher Bloom, 16, traveled to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA) as part of an annual church group trip with Calvary Baptist Church. Tuesday morning, the group had their daily devotions before heading out to canoe. "Were just talking about how much God loves us and how much He's looking out for us and how He's watching over us," said Josiah Murray of Rochester.
Murray, along with Bloom and Grant Call of Rochester, shared a canoe that morning. "I was navigating," Call said. According to Call, heavy rain from days before created high water levels--not marked on the map. "Pretty soon, we realize we're not going to make it and we get sucked into the rapids," Call said. They plunged 25-30 feet in the rapids. "So there we are all just going through. Grant shouts, 'Left, left, right, right' and all of a sudden... rock!" Bloom recalled. Seconds later, the canoe overturned, throwing Call and Murray into the water. Meanwhile, Bloom explained, "Like the canoe turned on its side, like dead in the center, and my foot was standing there dead in the center."
The aluminum canoe wrapped around the rock and trapped Bloom's left foot. "That water flowing under the canoe was just so strong and if he would've slipped, he would've fallen and he would've been stuck underneath," said Murray. "We were all praying," Call added. Despite attempts to free Bloom, he spent more than six hours caught in the rapids. Although he says the water was not that cold, Bloom was barely conscious. "One of the physicians... told me I was in the final stages of hypothermia. And I was drifting in and out of consciousness while I was over there. And if I actually fell asleep, my lungs and my heart would've just stopped," he said.
A State Patrol helicopter collected Bloom then a seaplane flew him to Ely where he was taken by ambulance to a hospital. "Any delay on our response would have significantly increased the jeopardy to the young man," said Kurt Erickson with the St. Louis County Volunteer Rescue Squad. Besides some tissue damage to his left foot, Bloom is doing fine. For the time being, he is trying to keep pressure off his foot. Bloom already says he plans to return to the Boundary Waters.
Teen rescued from Basswood River
by Nick Wognum A 15-year-old boy from Rochester, MN was rescued after being pinned in the rapids of the Basswood River in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Tuesday afternoon. The accident occurred after two canoes flipped over just below Cable Rapids. There were three people in one canoe and two in the other. The five people were part of a group of 13 from Calvary Baptist Church of Rochester. According to the church’s Facebook page, the victim was Asher Bloom. While the other four escaped without injury, Bloom was caught when his ankle was trapped between the canoe and a rock in the current. It would take a major effort including ropes, pulleys, a helicopter, a floatplane and plenty of manpower to free Bloom from the current and get him to the Ely hospital.
The first problem was getting word out of the accident which happened around 10:30 a.m. With little or no cell or radio service, the area turned out to be a communication nightmare. Luckily, two Northern Tier Boy Scout staff members reported the incident with a radio back to the base on Moose Lake. A 911 page was sent out at 1:19 p.m. Rescuers travelled to the scene from three directions, two by water via Moose and Fall lakes and one by air. A USFS Beaver floatplane arrived at the top of Upper Basswood Falls first. On board were pilot Pat Loe, a Lake County deputy and two Morse-Fall Lake fire department members along with ropes, a chainsaw, an inflatable boat and cold water suits.
The group then portaged down to where Bloom was being held up in the water by Matt Knight, an adult group leader. “When we got there we found the patient pinned to a rock, his left ankle pinned between the rock and the canoe,” said James Devine of the Morse-Fall Lake fire department. “The older male, Matt, was standing on a rock holding on to the victim’s life jacket so the water level was by his belly,” said Devine. “That kid owes his life to Matt.” Knight was one of three adults in the 13-person group. The group had been ticketed for having more than nine in a party so they split into two groups Tuesday. The rest of the group chose to do the 340 rod Horse Portage. After portaging around Cable Rapids the group of five put in and ended up flipping over, one above the rapids and one midway through.
Knight held up Bloom from shortly after he flipped into the water until he was freed from the canoe around 4:30 p.m. The water temperature on the surface was 70 degrees and both people ended up suffering from hypothermia. Bloom was semi-conscious from hypothermia, so he was wrapped in emergency blankets and hot packs to warm him up. His vitals were monitored continually until the helicopter arrived. When the first group of rescuers arrived they were initially able to get ropes out to Bloom. Another rope was tied to the canoe. Pulling the canoe against the current was initially impossible due to the amount of water flowing through the river. “As people tried to move the canoe they could move it a little but what was happening was the kid was being pulled down further under. There wasn’t enough manpower to pull the canoe away and get the kid untrapped. The concern was if he slips one more time his head is going under,” said Kurt Erickson of the St. Louis County Rescue Squad.
A decision was made to wait for more help to arrive. Those type of decisions are not easy to make. “You want to get this person out as fast as you can but it has to be done in the most safe way without any more victims,” said Morse-Fall Lake firefighter Jim Blauch. “The best decision we had to make was to wait until we had the necessary rigging to get that canoe off as quick as possible.” The two groups sent by water each arrived around the same time, one through Newton Lake and other over Prairie Portage. The St. Louis Rescue Squad hauled in ropes and pulleys that would prove crucial to removing the canoe.
“I want to give a lot of credit to one of our members, Jon Olson, who is a rescue training instructor through Mesabi Range College and is a member of the Rescue Squad,” said Erickson. “Jon was absolutely instrumental in rigging our rope equipment for mechanical advantage using pulley systems. That gave us the advantage to put a strain on that canoe and hold it and pull it right off the kid with no trouble at all,” said Erickson. The hydraulic force was so strong it damaged equipment used to remove the canoe. “We had a 25,000 pound carabineer attached to the front of the canoe and it bent,” said Blauch. “Jon said he had never seen a steel carabineer bend before,” said Devine. “As soon as the canoe was freed, the kid came free and the kid started washing downstream in the current but we did have lifelines attached to him and we were able to immediately pull him back to shore and get him up on dry land,” said Erickson.
Bloom was in a hypothermic state and had damage to his ankle. “The keel of the canoe had dug into the ankle and dug a very significant deep contusion with bruising in the heel,” said Erickson. “This kid was in extreme peril. This kid could have easily, easily died from any simple little mistake. I think it is only from the dedicated volunteers that came together and worked together to make this rescue happen,” said Erickson. A state patrol helicopter was brought in from Minneapolis at 7:12 p.m. with two St. Paul firefighter paramedics on board. The helicopter hovered on the far side of the river and lowered one of the firefighters by tether to the water. The helicopter then carried the firefighter to the other side where Bloom was located. Bloom was put in a sling and attached to the firefighter. The two were then hauled hanging from the helicopter to the Beaver waiting on Basswood. “Otherwise we would have had to hand carry him and my preference if we’re carrying a bigger guy is 18 people. That means our carriers are on both sides of the stretcher walking in the brush, walking on the rocks, crawling over the trees because these portages are only one person wide,” said Erickson. Blauch said it was shorter to wait for the helicopter than it was to hand carry him back over two portages. Communicating with the helicopter was a problem. At the site a hand held radio was duct taped to a paddle that was raised in the air in order to get a system. The $500 million ARMER system (Allied Radio Matrix for Emergency Responders) may work well in most of the state, but in the BWCA, not so much. Emergency responders here believe the BWCA has been ignored by the state radio board. There aren’t enough towers and the ones that are up here aren’t high enough to be able to reach into remote areas. “We tied one radio to a sapling we bent over to get it higher in the air,” said Blauch. “The first coordinates for the helicopter was 10 miles off because the communication had broken off.”
The boy was flown in the Forest Service Beaver back to the seaplane base on Shagawa Lake where he was transported to Ely Bloomenson Hospital by the Ely Area Ambulance Service. Bloom was released from the hospital on Wednesday. The rest of the group came out of the woods that day as well. The rescue crew also had a casualty along the way. Olson was taken to the hospital when the emergency responders finally got back to Ely after 11 p.m. “Jon Olson rolled his ankle on the portage in to Newton and he was in extreme pain. He said, ‘To hell with that, we’re going.’ And with that injury he continued on and did all of the portages to get out to these guys and put his technical knowledge to use,” said Erickson. While Olson’s expertise played an important role, Erickson said the credit goes to everyone involved including those who weren’t there but helped train the people who were on the scene. “We enjoy the challenge and if there’s anything we can do to make it successful that’s what we want to do,” said Erickson. “If can’t help the victim themselves we see it as helping the family with the negative consequence.”
This incident involving flipping a canoe in the Basswood River and being trapped in the water is one of the few where the victim survives. “When you hear a call like that go out, I hate to say it, but in the back of your mind you think of the monumental effort you’re about to undertake. You start thinking of the negative possibilities of an actual recovery,” said Blauch. “Because the time it takes just to get there is substantial.” This was the fourth rescue in the Boundary Waters this summer. The cost of the rescue was estimated at over $40,000 including the cost of the helicopter, loss of equipment and damage to boats and motors.
Teen rescued from Basswood River
Submitted by admin on Fri, 07/10/2015
RESCUERS hold ropes out to where 15-year-old Asher Bloom was pinned in the river at Upper Basswood Falls. Matt Knight, an adult group leader, held the teen above water. Photo by Kurt Erickson. by Nick Wognum A 15-year-old boy from Rochester, MN was rescued after being pinned in the rapids of the Basswood River in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Tuesday afternoon. The accident occurred after two canoes flipped over just below Cable Rapids. There were three people in one canoe and two in the other.
The five people were part of a group of 13 from Calvary Baptist Church of Rochester. According to the church’s Facebook page, the victim was Asher Bloom. While the other four escaped without injury, Bloom was caught when his ankle was trapped between the canoe and a rock in the current. It would take a major effort including ropes, pulleys, a helicopter, a floatplane and plenty of manpower to free Bloom from the current and get him to the Ely hospital. The first problem was getting word out of the accident which happened around 10:30 a.m. With little or no cell or radio service, the area turned out to be a communication nightmare.
Posted: Jul 10, 2015 11:47 PM EDT ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) -- The Rochester teenager whose canoe went over some rapids 30-feet high in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area describes the experience Friday. "The water speed was taking us a little too fast," said 16 year-old Asher Bloom. "We realized we aren't going to make it, and we get sucked into the rapids," said Grant Call who was navigating the boat. Left with no choice, the boys battled the water before running into trouble. "When he (Grant) shouted rock, I was like holy crap we're doomed," described Bloom. "The current was way too strong and we actually hit that rock on the right," said Grant. "I'd say I had about a half a second window there before my foot was actually pinned in the canoe," told Bloom.
As the current dragged him away, Call had one request to his friend Josiah Murray. "He's just yelling at me you know go back for Asher, and looking back on it, I mean it was amazing," said Murray, "There he is about to float down, and he's yelling go back for somebody else don't worry about me." Eventually a group leader reached Asher, his foot pinned under the bent canoe. "At that point Matt Knight was out there," said Murray, "He ended up staying out there for the next six hours with Asher." "He was basically the guy keeping me alive, and keeping my head out of the water," told Bloom while using his hands to act out the scene. Bound by their faith each one began praying for a miracle. "That water flowing underneath the canoe was just so strong, and if he would have slipped he would have fallen he would have been stuck underneath, unless the canoe let go," described Murray. "I was in the final stages of hypothermia, and I was drifting in and out consciousness while I was over there, and if I actually fell asleep my lungs and my heart would stop," said Bloom.
Tirelessly the boys tried to free Asher with various props, eventually being rescued by emergency personnel. "They sent ropes out to Matt, and he tied a couple ropes around the nose of the canoe, and the front seat, to try and yank it off there," said Bloom. While his foot will be okay, Asher and his friends believe their faith carried them through. "We made this dumb decision, and we deserved maybe a lot worse consequences, and he used it for his glory, and the way God works in our lives is just amazing," said Murray. Despite the terrifying situation, the boys say they plan to canoe the Boundary Waters again. Asher says his foot feels like it is constantly asleep. Doctors tell him the pain will go away in about a week.
RESCUERS hold ropes out to where 15-year-old Asher Bloom was pinned in the river at Upper Basswood Falls. Matt Knight, an adult group leader, held the teen above water. Photo by Kurt Erickson.
by Nick Wognum
A 15-year-old boy from Rochester, MN was rescued after being pinned in the rapids of the Basswood River in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Tuesday afternoon. The accident occurred after two canoes flipped over just below Cable Rapids. There were three people in one canoe and two in the other. The five people were part of a group of 13 from Calvary Baptist Church of Rochester. According to the church’s Facebook page, the victim was Asher Bloom. While the other four escaped without injury,
Bloom was caught when his ankle was trapped between the canoe and a rock in the current. It would take a major effort including ropes, pulleys, a helicopter, a floatplane and plenty of manpower to free Bloom from the current and get him to the Ely hospital. The first problem was getting word out of the accident which happened around 10:30 a.m.
