Colo. Firefighters Resuscitate Man Pulled From Creek

Boulder firefighters helped resuscitate a man at Eben G. Fine Park after he nearly drowned in Boulder Creek on Wednesday.

The Boulder Fire Department received a call at 7:05 p.m. about a person who was not breathing in Boulder Creek, Battalion Chief Mark Johnson said.

At first, two engines and one dive team were dispatched to the scene, but the dive team was canceled, Johnson said, after dispatchers learned the man's friends had pulled him from the water.

When firefighters arrived, less than five minutes after the initial call, they found a man estimated to be in his early 20s, unconscious and struggling to breathe, Johnson said.

Safety crews stabilized the man's head, placed him on a backboard and used an airway device to help him breathe, Johnson said.

Once on board an ambulance, crews used high-flow oxygen to stabilize his breathing, and the man began to look better but did not regain consciousness, Johnson said.

The man, whose identity is not yet known, was taken to Boulder Community Hospital, Johnson said.

Officials are not sure why the man nearly drowned, Johnson said, but there is no evidence that drugs or foul play were involved.

Copyright 2012 - Daily Camera, Boulder, Colo.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service