OLYMPIA, WASHINGTON — Five Olympia firefighters rescued a woman trapped in mud near Squaxin Park in Olympia, Washington, on May 13 as the tide rose around her. The 911 call came in around noon, with dispatchers reporting the woman stuck near Ellis Cove beach with water already at her waist and mud up to her thighs.

The woman had attempted to walk from one beach to another when she became trapped. The harder she struggled to free herself, the deeper she sank.

"We were racing against time," said Olympia Fire Lieutenant Steven Busz. "There definitely would have been water over her head at full tide."

A state Department of Fish & Wildlife boat that was on a training exercise helped the firefighters reach the woman. Rescuers deployed a specialized piece of equipment called a mud board to stabilize two firefighters on the mud flat while three others on the boat worked together to pull the woman to safety. Water was above her waist when she was rescued. She was not injured.

"There is no way to get yourself out of it without having someone either pulling you or you pulling on something else," Busz said. "The harder you try, the more you're going to sink. It just goes and goes and goes. There is no hard pan for you to push off of."

Olympia Fire responds to about two similar calls each year. The department is urging the public to admire the mud flats from a safe distance and to stay off of them entirely. Everything around the shores are tidal flats, and the ground will be soft unless it is something that never sees tidal water, Busz said.