Victoria man rescued woman from Gorge Waterway Wednesday night

Photo: Adrian Lam

Devin Waugh was walking along the Selkirk Trestle around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday when he heard a woman yelling.

Police are calling a Victoria man a hero after he climbed down the Selkirk Trestle to rescue a woman in distress after she jumped into the Gorge Waterway Wednesday night.

Devin Waugh, who lives in the Railyards, said he was walking along the trestle around 9:30 p.m. when he heard a woman yelling and then saw her jump from the trestle into the cold water below.

A nearby cyclist called 911 and shone his light on the water below as Waugh spoke to the woman and told her to swim to the wooden piling and hang on.

“She was clearly extremely distressed,” said Waugh, 31. The woman went back and forth between hanging onto the piling and pushing off into the open water.

“I made the call to climb down the side of the trestle down to the water level,” said Waugh, an experienced rock climber.

Waugh crouched on one of the crossbeams between the pilings and grabbed the woman’s hand. He spoke to the woman, who was wearing only a nightgown, and reassured her that everything was going to be OK.

“I said: ‘Hey my name is Devin, I’m here to help you,’ ” Waugh recalled.

She pushed back into the water a few times, but Waugh encouraged her to swim to him under the bridge. Eventually she did, and he was able to pull her up onto the crossbeam.

Waugh said he’s not a strong swimmer, so he’s glad he could help the woman while staying on the crossbeam. Fortunately, it was high tide, with the water less than a metre from the crossbeam, so he could pull her up easily, he said.

“I don’t think she knew where she was or what was going on. I said: ‘It’s OK, I’m going to stay with you,’ ” Waugh said. “Occasionally she’d have a lucid moment, she’d say: ‘OK, don’t let go.’ “

Waugh stayed with the woman until a Victoria Fire boat arrived. The boat took the woman to a dock near Glo Restaurant, where police and B.C. Ambulance paramedics were waiting.

Paramedics and Victoria police officers escorted the woman to the hospital under the Mental Health Act. She was not physically injured.

“He’s a hero,” said Victoria police spokesman Const. Cam MacIntyre. “We are thankful Devin was in the right place at the right time, and did an incredibly brave thing in a potentially life-threatening situation.”

Waugh, who works as an Indigenous land-use consultant, said he didn’t think twice about taking action — it was all instinct.

“She clearly needed help.”

Anyone in distress can call the Vancouver Island Crisis line at 1?888?494?3888 or text 250-800-3806 from a mobile phone between the hours of 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. seven days a week.