Family rescued after inflatable rafts pop, bees sting

Published 1:30 am Sunday, September 3, 2017

By Rolf Boone / The Olympian

Some family time spent on the Nisqually River turned into a river rescue for Lacey Fire District 3 and the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office dive team, a battalion chief said Sunday.

A family was floating down the river Friday afternoon in the area of Nisqually Pines when one of their inflatable rafts popped, Battalion Chief Ryan Fox said. That led family members to pile onto the other raft, but it also popped, he said.

The family made its way to shore, and began to walk along the shoreline, when they were stung by bees after coming across a bees’ nest. The combination of events finally led them to call for help, Fox said.

By then, Lacey fire and the dive team had responded to the scene early Friday evening.