Last week, two Greene County first responders performed a life-saving act by jumping into a creek full of water to rescue an individual from a submerged vehicle.

Nate Byerly with Churdan Rescue was one of the individuals who dove into the freezing  water last Thursday night at West Buttrick Creek around 5:17pm. The driver, 55-year-old Ouida Wiggins of Paton, lost control of her 2003 Jeep Liberty on 130th Street, due to a medical condition. Her vehicle went through the ditch and into the creek. Byerly tells Raccoon Valley Radio since Churdan Fire and Rescue didn’t have a boat, they had requested the Jefferson Fire Department’s boat, but in the meantime, they threw a rope to the victim.

“Once we threw her the rope, we like to give everyone the option before we have to risk anyone else’s safety, ‘Can you handle getting the rope around yourself?’ Once she thought she had a hold of the rope, she let go of the vehicle, which she did not have a hold of the rope securely enough, and that’s actually when (Greene County Deputy) Shane Allen and myself, we had to jump into the creek and start swimming after her.”

Byerly says when they got to the vehicle, only the very top of the jeep was visible. He describes what happened next.

“I believe that she (the victim) had rolled down a window and was kind of sitting on the door holding on top of the vehicle. So you could see basically from her shoulders up was all you could really see. I had one rope tied to my waist, I got a hold of her and pushed her closer to the shore, Deputy Allen got a hold of her, and we had some people up on the shore helping to grab all of us as well.”         

Byerly appreciates all of the agencies that helped that evening and he adds all departments worked well together. Wiggins was transported to the Greene County Medical Center with minor injuries and was later released. The Jefferson, Paton and Churdan Fire departments, along with Greene County Ambulance and Gowrie Police Department assisted at the scene. To hear more from Byerly about the life-saving rescue, listen to today’s Community State Bank in Paton Let’s Talk Greene County program.