Child rescued from Sea Ranch cliff fall

A 6-year-old boy fell from a Sea Ranch bluff Wednesday morning, landing on a ledge where ocean waves crashed into him as he waited to be rescued by a Sonoma County sheriff’s deputy.

In a dramatic effort, Deputy Greg Myers climbed down the rocks and once he got close to the soaked child, dropped to his stomach and pulled him up by one arm, Sheriff’s Sgt. Spencer Crum said.

The deputy got the boy to a rock partially up the bluff where a paramedic waited to assess his injuries, said Cal Fire Capt. Shelley Spear, who responded to the call. An ambulance waited above to take the child to a Gualala clinic.

The boy suffered a head injury and possibly a broken arm in the 20-foot fall, Crum said.

He, his 9-year-old sister and parents, all of Belmont, were staying at a home about a mile away. The children had wandered the bluff trail at the northern end of The Sea Ranch coastal community when the boy slipped and fell around 9 a.m. His sister ran for help.

“The little girl knocked on a door and got somebody to call 911,” Spear said.

The parents didn’t realize the children had gone so far, Crum said.

Myers, who patrols the north coast, was nearby and first to arrive. Cal Fire and North Sonoma Coast firefighters and Coast Life Support ambulance paramedics also responded.

Myers requested the Coast Guard and any available helicopter, but helicopters weren’t flying because of weather and maintenance. A man from the Sea Ranch Water Co. who was in the area also stopped and helped with the rescue, Spear said.

“He was hanging on, getting pelted by the waves,” Spear said about the boy. “He was very, very lucky.”

You can reach Staff Writer Randi Rossmann at 707-521-5412 or randi.rossmann@pressdemocrat.com.