See video clips of the actual rescue...
River Rescue in
Pedernales State Park 1 - KXAN.com
River Rescue in
Pedernales State Park 2 - KXAN.com
River Rescue in
Pedernales State Park 1 - KVUE.com
River Rescue in
Pedernales State Park 2 - KVUE.com
Emergency teams speak out on weekend rescue
By JIM BERGAMO
KVUE News
Two families that didn't know each other before the weekend were brought together during a harrowing experience. All six people had to be rescued off a rock, when swift water surrounded them.
A 9-1-1 call was made just before eight Saturday evening by a visitor to Pedenales Falls State Park who was watching a potential tragedy unfold.
9-1-1 caller: "They're on a rock and its getting smaller."
A mother and her three sons and a husband and wife had come to the area to fish, unaware that rain from a thunderstorm several hours earlier in Gillespie County was about make its way down the Pedenales River.
Star Flight was dispatched. On this mission, Star Flight program manager Casey Ping would be the one lowered from the chopper to rescue the victims.
"The worst thing that could have happened is the water comes up and it washes them into the water. In all kinds of flooding and swift water operations the worst place for the victims to be is in the water," Ping said.
Louis Banta, with the Johnson City Police Department, used his dash cam to record the rescue. He was concerned rising water or debris would knock the victims off the rock.
"If they would have lost it off that rock they probably would have perished in that river because there's just no way to get out of that turbulence. It sucks you under right there," Banta said.
With the water rising swiftly, and the fact they were dealing with six people, the Star Flight crew had to rethink its strategy.
"Normally we try to do these rescues one victim at a time, because it's easier for the rescuer to manage. But because we felt the water was a threat, we didn't know how fast the water was going to continue to come up, we wanted to do it two at a time," Ping said.
In the end, Ping says the mission was fairly straight forward. Austin/Travis County EMS says this was Star Flight's 10th swift water rescue since January.
Park Visitors Tape Pedernales River
Rescue
The water rescue of six people stranded
on a rock at the bottom of Pedernales
Falls State Park was caught on tape by
visitors Saturday night.
Three young boys, their mother and
another couple banded together on a rock
as the Pedernales River rose quickly
around them.
They were rescued by helicopter around
8:30 p.m. Saturday.
There were no injuries.
"My brother was saying he was going to
die, over and over, and I thought we
were going to," said Braden Flores, who
was rescued from the river.
STAR Flight said one family found
themselves in the same situation on that
same rock in the '80s, but because there
was no helicopter rescue then, they were
swept away.
The Hill Country has received several
inches of rain in the past couple days,
creating swift-moving waters.
The father and daughter who recorded
the rescue shared their thoughts and
worries.
"We got to the top and noticed there was
some people stranded out in the middle
of the water in between a rock, or on a
rock," said Sandie Taylor, who captured
the water rescue on video. "It was six
people: two children and two women, a
teenage boy and then a father or a man,
and we noticed that some people had
already called 911 to try to get a
rescue out to them.
"I was really nervous that it wasn't
going to be enough time, because I could
see that the water had surrounded them
so quickly, and it just kept on getting
more and more close to their feet.
"Yeah, I definitely saw bad things
happening in my mind, and I really
thought that somebody might die out
there. My heart was beating the whole
time, and I was just so worried about
them but it was really cool to see the
helicopter come in and save them.
"They took two members of the family at
a time," Sandie continued. "They took a
little boy and the teenager first, and
then another little boy, and a mom or a
mother or a woman, and then the third
trip in was a man grabbing the woman and
another man, so a guy was hanging at the
end of the rope, swinging in to grab
them."
"It was kinda funny, they weren't real
shook up or anything," said Charles
Taylor, who also captured the rescue on
video. "The teenage guy said, 'I'll
never do that again,' and the little
boys were like, 'I really enjoyed the
helicopter ride.'"
KXAN
TV (kxan.com)
Sunday,
June 17, 2007, 01:43 PM
Six
persons were rescued this evening, when
the STAR Flight helicopter responded to
Blanco County and the Pedernales Falls
State Park for the victims left stranded
at the bottom of the falls on a rock in
the middle of the swift-moving
Pedernales River. Park rangers and the
Blanco Police Department arrived on the
scene first, then called called for
additional rescue resources.
STAR
Flight Emergency Communications received
their first notification at 8:02 p.m.
The STAR Flight crew members set out to
rig their aircraft for the rescue
operation, lifted off from the helipad
at Brackenridge Hospital at 8:14 p.m.,
then made the sixteen minute flight to
Blanco County and Pedernales Falls State
Park.
After a
short consultation with public safety
personnel on the ground, the
three-person STAR Flight crew began a
“short haul” operation — a highly
technical and well-coordinated effort
where a paramedic rescuer is lowered to
the victim at the end of an eighty foot
rope suspended from beneath the belly of
the aircraft. The helicopter’s crew
chief and pilot carefully coordinate the
aircraft’s movements from above, as they
position the rescuer below.
Over
the next 30 minutes, STAR Flight
personnel — pilot, paramedic crew chief,
and paramedic rescuer, repeated the
scenario three times. Rescuer carefully
lowered to the victim, victim secured
safely in a special cinch collar,
victims and rescuer lifted to safety.
By 9:15
p.m. the rescue operation was complete.
Six victims had been lifted from their
precarious perch in the middle of the
Pedernales River. There were no injuries
reported. STAR Flight returned to the
Brackenridge Hospital helipad at 9:19
p.m.
American Statesman
statesman.com
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