According to a report from The Daily Star, the Fly Creek (NY) Volunteer Fire Company (FCVFC) is calling two of its assistant chiefs heroes for their life-saving actions in rescuing an Otsego town worker who was sucked into a culvert by rushing storm waters on Tuesday. The water rescue is believed to be the FCVFC’s first in more than 20 years.
First Assistant Chief Jess Lanza and Second Assistant Chief Henry Hight were the first-arriving FCVFC members on scene to Christian Hill Road, where Otsego highway crews were clearing a culvert blocked by a beaver dam. the crews called 911 after one of the workers became trapped by rushing waters as part of the culvert collapsed.
The man’s coworkers helped keep his head mostly above water until rescue crews arrived. His name was not given.
Lanza, who was a mile away from the scene when the call came in, said he items he was carrying in his truck such as a rescue sling made from tubular webbing, which he tossed to the worker to wrap around himself to keep him afloat. Hight then arrived on scene in a FCVFC mini rescue truck, which can be used for water rescues in extreme temperatures. They also deployed a floatation device, which crews used to help pull the victim up and away from the suction, Lanza said.
The man was “visibly tired and wet,” but showed no significant injuries other than leg cuts and bruises. He was transported by a Fly Creek ambulance to Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown, where he was released to his home, according to Otsego Town Highway Superintendent Bill Hribar Sr.
The dam was about 10 feet wide, and the flood waters were about four- to five-feet deep. Access to the culvert was not visible from the road.
Both chiefs credited the leadership of the FCVFC and the district for acquiring water rescue equipment and properly training department members.
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