A Ute Indian Tribe Fish and Game officer was rescued from the run-off swollen Uintah River last Tuesday after she attempted to cross it in her pickup truck and became stuck.

The woman, whose name is not being released, attempted to use a known low-water crossing to transit the river in her patrol vehicle at around 2:30 p.m., according to Ute Indian Tribe Emergency Management Director Misty Bruns.

Bruns said the river however is running high, having risen at least five feet in the past week. She said the woman's truck became inoperable shortly after it entered the water and was carried downstream with the driver inside.

“The vehicle was center-stream, facing upstream,” Bruns said. “The river water was coming over the hood. Water had inundated the passenger side of the vehicle and the driver appeared to be out of the water.”

Bruns called the driver – a woman in her early 20s – on her cell phone to gather information on her condition and on the amount of water in the truck.

“She indicated that she was OK and that she had a limited amount of water at her feet,” Bruns said. “She was surprisingly calm.”

Bruns said when she arrived at the scene, Farrell McCook with the tribe's Fish and Game Department was already planning the trapped woman's rescue. McCook suggested using the agency's personal watercraft to reach the woman mid-river and pull her from the truck.

The plan, which Bruns called “brilliant,” was immediately approved and implemented.

“He was able to approach the diver's side of the vehicle to hand off a life jacket and call out instructions,” Bruns said. “He then made a second pass where he loaded the driver onto his Jet Ski.”

The woman was taken to shore where she was examined by EMTs and interviewed by Bureau of Indian Affairs police.

Meanwhile, back in the river, Bruns said members of Uintah County's swift water rescue team, tribal Fish and Game officers, and crews from LaRose Construction worked to get the truck out of the water.

The operation involved lifting a worker out to the truck and attaching cables through the cab to a track hoe bucket. The worker attaching the cables was tethered to a member of the swift water rescue team on shore for safety. Other members of the team waited downstream, in the event the worker fell out of the truck's bed.

Bruns said once the cable was connected to the bucket, McCook pulled the Jet Ski back over to the truck and retrieved the worker. It took several more hours to finally remove the truck from the water.

“The interoperability that took place between the (BIA), tribal entities, county entities, search and rescue, everybody ... was awesome,” Bruns said. “They were incredible.”