Per Ruskin:
We set up base where there were about 200 people.
I helped triage and load them on helicopters, ten to 15 at a time.
It sounds to me like he was managing triage efforts - not single-handedly going down from the chopper and plucking 169 people from the water and trees.
But all of the folks that responded and helped in the effort are heroes in a fashion. I would think that doing triage properly saves many lives as well. Like the rescue crew that saved the 22-year old woman from the water and deemed her “okay” and left her with the people in the house nearby to provide a hot shower and dry clothes and a phone to call relatives.
“Take care of her - we have to rescue more people!”