Life Saviors Two Men Commended For Quick Action In Saving Lives Of Pair Swept Down River

Seven-year-old Anna Barnes thrashed frantically in the Spokane River as she clung to her motionless babysitter.

Screams of “Help! Help!” rang out across the river.

Randy Harris and Tim Ford answered the pleas and pulled Barnes and her 18-year-old babysitter, Jackie Poirier, from the clutches of the fast-flowing river.

For their heroics, Harris and Ford will receive the Spokane Valley Fire District’s Citizen Lifesaving Award during a ceremony on Sept. 27. The ceremony will be held at Station 1, 10319 E. Sprague, at 4:30 p.m.

“I’m very grateful to them for their act of bravery,” said Martha Barnes, Anna’s mother.

She has good reason to be, said Valley Fire Lt. Warren “Coop” Kennett, who responded to the July 14 accident.

“If they hadn’t been there, we’d have had two more fatalities in the river,” Kennett said.

It was Kennett who recommended Harris, a 30-year-old Valley man who works as a repairman at a Post Falls electronics shop, and Ford, a 21-year-old Valley man who works as a machine operator at Keytronics, for the lifesaving award.

Poirier was wading out to a rock in the middle of the river with Barnes on her shoulders. On her way to the rock, Poirier tripped on another rock and she and Barnes tumbled into the water.

Poirier quickly grabbed Barnes and began swimming for shore. But the strong pull of the current soon overwhelmed her. Exhausted, she slipped under water and lost consciousness.

Harris and Ford were relaxing with their girlfriends on the north bank, just west of Sullivan Park, when they heard Barnes come screaming around a bend in the river.

“At first I was mad that somebody would let their little kid swim down the river,” said Brin Bolter, Harris’s girlfriend.

Annoyed with what she thought were irresponsible parents, Bolter told Harris to go get Barnes.

Still unaware of the severity of the situation - or that there were two people in the water - Harris raced into the river and asked Ford to come with him. Ford, who did not know Harris, obliged and the two men swam about 20 yards into the river to retrieve Barnes.

That’s when Harris discovered Poirier.

“When he said, ‘Grab her,’ I said, ‘Grab who?”’ Ford said, reenacting how he looked feverishly for Poirier. “All I saw was a little blue thing.”

Ford grabbed the “blue thing” and pulled.

To his surprise, it was the hair band still holding Poirier’s ponytail in place as he pulled her head above water. Poirier was not breathing.

Meanwhile, Bolter ran to call 911 from a nearby pay phone.

Harris pulled Barnes to shore, handed her to Ford’s girlfriend, Holly Morley, and ran back into the water to help Ford. Poirier’s face was pale and her lips blue as they pulled her breathless body onto the small, sandy beach about 100 yards down river from where she was swept under.

Adrenaline racing, the two men rolled Poirier onto her side and tilted her head back to open her airway. They estimated that Poirier had been under water for about two minutes by the time they reached her.

“I was jazzed,” Harris said. “I was ready to do CPR.”

Fortunately, CPR was not necessary. Once her airway was opened, Poirier began to cough up water and started breathing again.

By the time firefighters from Valley Fire’s Station 5 arrived, Poirier was sitting up. Barnes never lost consciousness and swallowed only a small amount of water.

Both were taken to Valley Hospital and Medical Center. Poirier was kept overnight and Barnes was treated and released.

“For them to risk their own lives without any thought to save another is commendable,” Kennett said.

Both men said everything happened so fast they did not even think before jumping in.

“I don’t even remember swimming,” Harris said. “All I remember is hitting the water, getting her and getting out.”

Martha Barnes said her daughter has bounced back well since the accident and still loves the water. Martha Barnes harbors no ill feelings toward Poirier for the accident.

“We’re very close,” she said. “She’s a very good friend of mine.”

Poirier has had a tougher time dealing with the ordeal, however. She declined comment for the article saying, “I am just trying to forget it.”

Ford sympathized with Poirier’s feelings.

“After they were gone (to the hospital), I thought a lot about how it could have been me or my girlfriend,” Ford said. “It’s scary that the water could take somebody down like that. I hope if it happens to me somebody will be there.”

In most cases, somebody being there is the only chance of survival. This time, fire officials said it was.

“Most of the time when we get a call of a person in the river, it’s very remote we find them,” Kennett said. “We’re grateful (Harris and Ford) were there.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Photos (1 Color)

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: VALLEY FIRE COMMENDATION A Valley Fire District report on the rescue by Randy Harris and Tim Ford states: “It should be noted that without the efforts of the two men who pulled these victims from the water, there is very little doubt that at least one of these people - if not both - would have lost their lives. These men should be commended for their deeds.”