Yorktown FD and EMTs Overcome Swift Water to in Car Crash Rescue

YORKTOWN, N.Y. - Yorktown Heights first responders had to employ a "low frequency, high risk" technique to rescue two accident victims stranded by swift water after a car accident on the Taconic Parkway this past weekend.

The Yorktown Heights Fire Department with Yorktown Volunteer Ambulance Corps and Empress Emergency Medical Services were dispatched to the northbound Taconic Parkway for a motor vehicle accident with extrication at around 4:30 p.m. on Sunday (Aug. 18).

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YHFD Rescue 16 and Rescue Engine 270 were first on the scene and found two overturned vehicles approximately 100 feet off the roadway, and into swift water. In an online report, Yorktown fire officials said that ‘due to the heavy rain that had just finished passing through, what is normally a small stream had turned into a swift water scenario.’

Fire personnel observed a 20-foot-wide stream of swift water about a third of the way up the overturned cars. The water was moving at around five knots—"more than enough to knock an individual off their feet," the YHFD said.

First responders found one victim on the highway side of the incident, allowing EMS to provide immediate treatment.

However, while two others involved in the crash had managed to get out of their car on their own, they were stranded on the far side of the swift water.

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To reach and rescue the victims, YHFD members had to find a way to get across the water safely.

"The initial rescue plan of setting up a rope high line and ferrying rescuers and victims back and forth across the swift water was put into motion," YHFD officials said.

Water Rescue 55 and Ladder 51 were called to the scene, along with two additional ambulances from Mohegan Volunteer Ambulance Corps.

"As rescuers were finalizing setting up the high line it was observed that due to the rain stopping, the swift water was beginning to recede and slow down," the YHFD said. "An operational decision was made to drop a 24-foot extension ladder across the moving water, have the victims walk across the ladder, and use the high line as a safety belay."

YHFD Assistant Chief Matt Luria said the rescue took about 20 minutes, allowing the victims to be treated at the scene before being transported to the trauma unit at Westchester Medical Center.

“The victims required assistance to get across,” Luria said. “The high line rope system is a low-frequency but high-risk operation; our personnel used a safety harness to get first responders across to the victims. Once they were there, with the water slowing down, we were able to utilize a ladder as a bridge, along with the high line as a safety device. Under challenging conditions, our members performed extremely well.”

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