90-Year-Old Survives Tumble over Coastal Bluff

Emergency personnel from Central Coast Fire & Rescue and the Yachats Fire District examine Isabelle Booth after she tumbled down the bluff behind her house south of Waldport. Booth spent three hours awaiting rescue but emerged from the ordeal relatively unscathed. (Courtesy photo by Jack Haggerty)


By Larry Coonrod

Firefighters from Waldport and Yachats raced toward a home on Highway 101 south of Waldport Tuesday evening after receiving a dispatch that a 90-year-old woman had fallen over a bluff.

“That’s a very scary call to get,” said Central Coast Fire & Rescue Chief Derek Clawson.

Isabelle Booth's ordeal began about 2 p.m. as Tuesday she as cleaned leaves out of the gazebo at her home of 35 years, which overlooks the Pacific Ocean.When she went to dump a wheelbarrow full of leaves over the bluff. Both the wheelbarrow and Booth went over the edge and rolled about 40-feet down the hill.

“I’ve done it hundreds and hundreds of times, but this time it got away and pulled me over,” Booth said. “It was just a stupid accident.”

Booth, who lives alone, came to a stop with yard debris pinning her to the hillside. Three hours later, when her boyfriend, Jack Haggerty, 92, came around for the couple’s afternoon half-a-glass of red wine, he found the garage door open, but no Booth in sight. 

“I knew something was wrong when I saw the wheelbarrow was missing,” Haggerty said.
Intuition led him to the bluff’s edge.
“All I could see was her legs sticking out,” Haggerty says. “She was close enough I could talk to her. I wanted to go down after her, but then I’d have been stuck, too.”
Haggerty said he was surprised how quickly emergency personnel showed up after he called 9-1-1. 

“They did a great job, especially the ambulance guys,” he said. 

Chief Clawson said firefighters climbed down to Booth and began removing the debris from her while others set up for a rope rescue.

“She wanted to get up and climb out herself. Of course, we couldn’t let her,” Clawson said. 

Rescuers from Yachats and Waldport transported Booth in a Stokes litter to the top of the hill.

The rescue comes at a time when county fire agencies are planning to put together a county-wide rope rescue team for such calls.

“Each individual district doesn’t have a lot of them. and it’s hard to keep trained for ... it’s a special technical rescue squad,” Clawson said.

Although Booth suffered only minor bruising from the fall, Clawson said the accident could easily have ended in tragedy.

“She was on about a 45-degree slope and close to a major drop down to the rocks,” Clawson said. “She lucked out, and the debris stopped her from going all the way over.”

Seeing that firefighters had matters well in hand, Haggerty raced to get his camera to document the rescue. 

“After they got her up and she was okay, I joked I hoped nobody accused me of pushing her,” Haggerty said.

“He saved my life,” Booth said. “If he hadn’t looked and seen me and the wheelbarrow, I might still be there, but I’m fine, and nobody should worry about me.”

It was a little later in the day than normal, but Booth and Haggerty finally got to enjoy that half a glass of red wine.

There was no word on the fate of the wheelbarrow.

Reporter Larry Coonrod can be reached at 541-265-8571 ext. 211 or larry@newportnewstimes.com