Firefighter of the Year Award

There are some calls in life that a first responder will never forget. This was definitely one of them. The rain started falling in Onondaga County early on June 20, 2019, and waters rose to dangerous levels. Streams became rivers and still water became swift water. In the early evening, Delphi Falls Fire Department was dispatched to a call for a woman who had fallen into Limestone Creek and was now trapped under a bridge. Delphi Falls FD quickly responded. The Chief of the Manlius Fire Department offered its technical rope rescue team to assist with the call.

Upon arrival, Delphi Falls firefighters discovered the most unlikely of scenes: A woman was trapped under the bridge that was almost completely submerged in water. The woman was stuck in one of the many channels of the underside of the bridge and amazingly found a pocket of air.

A woman’s hand appeared through a five-inch pipe coming through the bridge. One of the first firefighters on the scene held the hand, calming the woman. The individual who took on this task was well qualified to do so, as it was the Chaplain of the Pompey Hill Fire Co., one of the mutual aid departments.

Delphi command placed Manlius in charge of the technical aspects of the rescue and continued to summon resources, including a dive team. The closest dive team was from the Cazenovia Fire Department about six miles away.

Upon receiving word that the woman was not able to hold out much longer and seeing no other immediate option, the Manlius Chief attempted a rescue. He tied a rope to his harness which was held secure by other firefighters. The Chief lowered himself over the bridge into the waters and crawled along the side of the bridge. The swift water pounded him against the side of the bridge but he was able to move within two feet of the victim’s location. Unfortunately, despite best efforts, the Chief was swept partially under the bridge by the powerful waters upon reaching a gap in the side of the deteriorated bridge. The firefighters quickly pulled the Chief back to the side of the bridge.

After regrouping, several options were considered. To prepare for the diver who was about 40 minutes away, a “haul team” was deployed about 50 feet across the river with a rope that would be used to pull the rescuer and victim across the river. After a quick review of the plan and rescue procedures, the diver was lowered into the raging waters. The diver immediately was pounded by the water such that his spare regulator was engaged. The diver was guided to the location of the victim with aid of the rope system and set up to submerge.

The team had a difficult time keeping the diver in place and from being swept under the bridge, but the system worked as designed. With zero visibility in the muddy waters, the diver submerged, reached toward the victim who was more than arm’s length under the bridge and found the woman’s waist. After the diver made two tugs on the vertical rope, the Technical Rescue Officer called out for the Chaplain to let go of the woman’s hand. The haul team pulled the diver and woman across the rapid waters to safety.

Cazenovia Area Volunteer Ambulance Corps (CAVAC) treated and transported the woman, who recovered quickly. Despite the miracle of the rescue, the team remained strangely quiet, trying to cope with the events that had transpired.

No one on the incident had any technical-level swift water rescue training. None of the responding departments had any swift water rescue equipment or personnel. This call was as much a tribute to the ingenuity of firefighters as it is to the trust between them.

From the Chief who was held on a rope by two of his brother firefighters to the diver who was relied upon a rope system designed by people he did not know and with whom he had never worked, everyone came together for their sole purpose: save a life.

Adapted from a nomination by Manlius Fire Department Past Chief Bradley M. Pinsky

Past Award Recipients