FARMINGTON - A woman was plucked from the Sandy River Thursday after rescuers used a rocket device to fire a line as she clung to a fallen tree.

Fire Chief Terry Bell said three young women had been rafting down the river to celebrate a birthday when they ran into trouble and overturned.

Two of the women, Patty Hastings, 25, and Margaret Blauvelt, 24, were able to swim to shore on the west side of the river, Bell said.

Their companion, 25-year-old Andrea Hoffman, could not make it back to land and was forced to cling to a large tree that had fallen into the river.

Hoffman was stranded 20 to 30 feet over the river behind Stanwood Park Circle, off Farmington Falls Road, Bell said.

Roughly a dozen rescuers were on the scene a short time later. A pair of them in cold-water rescue suits tried to reach Hoffman but were unable to reach her as she clung to the swaying tree.

It was time for Plan B. That involved a rescue line fired from a small rocket on shore. The device enabled rescuers to propel the rescue line out over Hoffman's head.

The plan worked. Hoffman was able to grab the line and retrieve a life preserver attached to it. She was then pulled to shore.

None of the women had life jackets and were wearing only shorts and tank tops, Bell said.

"I've been doing this for 30 years and this was the first time that I thought someone was going to lose their life. ... either her or the two men who went into the water to rescue her," Bell said.

The women had been whitewater rafting a day earlier but were in a larger raft with proper equipment and preservers available, he said.

They were rafting again Thursday to celebrate Hastings' birthday.

Bell wasn't sure whether the women had a cell phone or someone heard them yelling and called 911.

Blauvelt is from Dixfield. Bell said Hoffman and Hastings live in the Farmington area. They could not be reached for comment about the rescue Thursday night.