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Napa man tells his story about being trapped under a boulder - Napa Valley Register

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Jason Koch found himself in a dire situation last week. He was trapped under a boulder on the rugged back side of Calistoga's Palisades, darkness had fallen, he had no way of extracting himself or calling for help.

Koch, a 48-year-old Napa resident who owns his own window washing business, had left work early that Monday afternoon to search for a $1,500 drone that had crashed the day before in wild terrain while he was making a nature video. 

Find a drone in rocky terrain, in the dark? Not impossible, said Koch, who admits "I really didn't think that through."

He'd equipped himself with two flashlights, extra batteries, a liter of water and a sandwich. He began the search about 5:30 p.m. as darkness descended over the Palisades, an area already blackened by the Glass Fire.

Koch said he had been looking forward to the adventure of hunting for his downed drone in the dark, but later admitted, "I don't know anyone who would do anything as nutty as climb a mountain that late and climb back down."

About 6 p.m., as he was jumping from one boulder to another, the rock he landed on shifted, dumping him to the ground, face down, then rolling over his mid-section. He was pinned, with only one arm free. 

Koch said he was stunned. "How is this possible?" he asked himself. 

Then he prayed. "God, I'm in a place where I don't know what's happened to me. I give you my life, God. Send me an angel to throw this boulder off me."

When no angel appeared, Koch started working on other strategies.

"I'm aware there's a big possibility that I'm stuck. I'm clearing my soul and giving up my issues," Koch said in an interview Monday morning. 

He did not despair and say his goodbyes to family and friends. "I wasn't at that place yet," he said. "I was resistant to the idea of being stuck there. I'm ready to fight."

Over the next eight hours, Koch struggled in every way possible. He managed to pop off his gashed helmet and excavate dirt with a stick, giving him more wiggle room.

He would tell himself: "OK, Jason, you have to try harder here. You're not trying hard enough."

He tried calming himself down and reducing his heart rate. With one flashlight within reach, he clicked off SOS signals into an uninhabited void. He remembered the story of "the guy who was trapped by a rock and how he had to cut his hand off to free himself."

Eventually, he wiggled enough to reach his keys and free a penknife. Then he cut open the backpack he'd been lying on and extracted his cellphone. Before he could attempt to dial 911, it slithered away.

More squirming, more digging with his one free hand, and finally he crawled out of his backpack and was free. At 2:10 a.m., he called 911. Soon after, a California Highway Patrol helicopter was overhead. An hour later, a CHP paramedic and pilot were able to hike in and join him for the wait until dawn when an aerial lift would be safest.

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The officers built him a fire and wrapped him in a blanket and a bullet-proof vest. They joked that their campfire couldn't get out of control. The Glass Fire had pretty much burned everything around them, Koch said. 

During the wait for dawn, Koch said he couldn't sleep. "I'm too jacked up," he said. "I think I remembered those stories in the back of my head that 'you don't go to sleep'" in extreme situations such as this.

Being hoisted up to the chopper for a ride to a waiting ambulance at the Calistoga fairgrounds was pretty "cool" in every sense of the word, Koch said. "I'm probably so cold it wouldn't matter if I got more cold because I'm already too cold," he remembers thinking.

At Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa, Koch said he was diagnosed as having 11 fractured ribs, a blood clot on an aorta and signs of kidney failure due to rhabdomyolysis, the death of muscles from being pinned to the ground for eight hours. 

Koch said he spent two days in the ICU at UC-Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, then got shifted to a regular ward. He came home Sunday.

"I'm drinking lots of water and trying not to move too much," he said. "It's kind of weird. As I roll over, I hear this crunch and this strange grind. I hear it from different places inside my chest. I go, 'Wow, I've never heard that before.'"

Koch said he won't be able to return to work from some time. His ribs may take three or four months to fully heal. He's on blood thinners and is supposed to avoid activities that might cause him to bleed.

Koch said he has run up medical bills of between $50,000 and $70,000. Because he doesn't have medical insurance, he expects to work out a repayment plan.

A friend has set up a GoFundMe account, seeking $10,000 to help Koch deal with some of his expenses. 

Koch said he has tremendous gratitude toward the first responders who helped save his life. He may try to set up a fund to buy equipment they might need, he said.

He's learned one lesson from his ordeal: "You're not as alone as you think. Everybody is your friend. People want to be a part of your life. You need to communicate what your plans are. Tell people where you're going and when you'll be back. Tell three or five people."

And what about that lost drone?

"Yup, I'm going back to find the drone," he said. "It's a pretty valuable little toy."

SEE THE WEEK IN CARTOONS

Most-read police and fire briefs on NapaValleyRegister.com

Here is a roundup of other police and fire reports in Napa County.

You can reach City Editor Kevin Courtney at kcourtney@napanews.com or at 707-256-2217. 

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