Chilhowie Fire Department members Lt. Randy Jones, Sgt. Keith Martin, Engineer Billy Dungan, firefighter/paramedic Marty Sizemore and operational medical director Dr. Wayne Reynolds were honored by the department this week for their actions in rescuing a mother and child from an automobile accident in the Middle Fork of the Holston River two years ago.
On Feb. 10, 2010, they responded to the 34-mile marker of Interstate 81 where a sport utility vehicle crossed a bridge’s side rail and fell 25 feet into the river where the injured occupants were trapped. The rescuers entered the 41-degree water and despite suffering moderate hypothermia, worked for more than an hour to rescue the victims.
“The lives of Tammy and Dalton were literally thrown into the hands of the Chilhowie Fire Department, the Virginia State Police, the Smyth County Sheriff’s Department, the Chilhowie Police Department, Wings Air Crews, Med Flight Air Crews and the Johnson City Trauma Center and Pediatrics Trauma Center,” CFD Public Information Officer Tom Rollins wrote. “And the lives of all first responders where thrown into the capable hands of the Saltville Fire Department which ran hypothermia recovery and ambulance shuttle for frozen first responders from the scene to warmth at the Chilhowie Fire Department.”
Rollins wrote about the incident a year afterward when the Brocks returned from Kentucky to “pay a visit to all the people that had a hand in saving their lives.”
For Rollins and the other responders, the Brocks’ visit brought inspiration. “After several surgeries, Tammy’s physical injuries have healed well but it was Dalton who showed everyone a will and temperament for recovery that gives witness to an inner courage and fortitude that only few are ever witness to much less party to,” Rollins wrote.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement