







Yesterday we utilized the RDC. The call came in as a man fell through the ice on the
When the RDC made it to the scene it was partially inflated. The people there did not use the filler tubes to fill the raft and lost most of the air. The raft was ¾ inflated and we put two people in rescue gear with the RDC tied off by rope. They worked their way across the river. Deputy Jason Hopkin was in the front of the RDC and fell through the ice twenty feet from shore. He later stated it was an eerie feeling when it happened because his feet never touched bottom. Jason was properly in the RDC and was able to hold on and push his bottom back up and sit in the RDC and make his way back in. They continued across the river, approximately 60 feet, to the Golden Retriever and pull her through the front opening into the RDC. All of us on shore, five, moved up stream and pulled the RDC to the second dog. This one was a little challenging as this dog wanted to bite and did get both rescuers. It was a light bite and no harm done. They were able to get the Chow into the RDC and we pulled everyone to shore. The RDC worked well and I am sure glad we have it.
We left the gray cover on the one end to place the dogs in and it sure helped pulling it through the slushy honeycombed watery ice. No injuries for anyone and it took approximately ten minutes from start to finish once the RDC was deployed.
The story goes like this. The owner of the dogs was outside when she heard them barking and went looking for them. She found them stuck in the ice and ran back to the house for help. A neighbor came to help and tied himself off to a tree with a rope and started walking across the ice. He fell though and went up to his chest before hitting bottom. He was able to get himself out on his own. The owner of the dog called 911 when her neighbor fell through and this is how we became involved. The press (Livingston Enterprise) was there when I arrived so there will most likely be an article in the paper. If there is one I will get a copy to you.
Thanks for coming up with the idea for the RDC, it was a great idea.
Sergeant Tom Totland
Park County Sheriff’s Office
(406) 222-4172
![]() |
||
|
Wednesday, 24 September, 2008 |
Subscribe | News Research Centre | Place a Classified Ad | Advertise | |
|
27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000>
![]()
Women Rescued at Pond Mills
Two women, one who is slightly handicapped, are rescued after their canoe tips in Westminster... Two people were pulled to safety after the canoe they were in capsized at the Westminster Ponds this afternoon.
The women - one of whom uses a walker - were wearing life jackets at the time.
"It's a good thing that they were," said London Fire Department District Chief Fritz Beck.
"They stayed with the canoe and they did the right thing by . . . not leaving the craft."
Monica Stewart and her friend Donna Froese were paddling in the south pond at the Westminster Ponds on Pond Mills Road about 1:30 p.m. when they found themselves in the water.
"We just tipped the boat and we had to hang on," said Stewart.
When they realized they couldn't swim back, they held on to the canoe until help arrived.
"We had great guys helping us," said Stewart, referring to the two firefighters who pulled them from the water and brought them to safety.
Friend Donna Froese was "laughing the whole time," Stewart said.
Friend Fred Starr was sitting on the dock having lunch when he saw the canoe capsize and called 911.
Within two minutes of arriving on scene, two members of the fire department's marine rescue team had paddled out to the women in a rapid deployment canoe - which can also be used in rapid water and on ice.
The team doesn't use the equipment often but train on it year round, said Beck.
Kelly Pedro is a Free Press reporter | ||||||||||||
|
| ||
|---|---|---|
|
|
| |
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lafarge North America News
Sparrows Point Employees Save Two Men from Drowning
Sparrows Point, Maryland, United States
Thursday, August 14, 2008 started out a normal day from Brian Anstiss, Distribution Coordinator at
Sparrows Point. While the weather wasn’t cooperating, by all accounts the barge loading underway that
day was proceeding according to plan. Then suddenly the plans changed. With heavy winds and chop
surrounding the barge, Brian and Jeff Metzger thought they heard voices coming from the water. Brian
and Jeff worked their way to the front of the barge and despite the heavy chop in the water were able to
spot a man floating roughly 150 yards away form the barge.
Brian and Jeff immediately jumped into
action. They were able to quickly
inflate the Rapid Deployment Craft
(RDC) and get it into the water with
help from Harry Whitlow and Bill
Rommel; from there, Brian wearing his
Personal Flotation Device, jumped
approximately 20 from the dock into the
RDC. Harry Whitlow tossed an oar to
Brian and he began paddling to the
person adrift in the water. Brian was
able to quickly reach the gentleman
floating in the water and get him into
the RDC. When they got back to the
dock, and got the gentleman up the
ladder and onto to solid ground, they
learned that the gentleman’s 91 year
grandfather was still out in the water,
clinging to the capsized boat.
PDF created with pdfFactory trial version
www.pdffactory.comHarry Whitlow and the rescued gentleman took a plant vehicle to the nearby marina while Brian and the
Tug Boat captain set out to find the capsized boat and the victim’s grandfather. The tug was able to
locate the capsized boat but shallow water prevented the tug boat from getting close enough to the
capsized boat to rescue the gentleman clinging to the capsized craft. Meanwhile the first victim and
another gentleman from the marina arrived in a boat small enough to rescue the elderly gentleman from
the water.
Training and quick thinking prevented a tragedy from occurring. Brian Anstiss said “I’m just glad we
were able to hear him cry for help, once we knew there was someone in the water the training we had on
how to use the craft kicked in and we just did what we had to do.”