A Centralia City Firefighter says it was a group effort that led to the successful rescue of four young men who were in a car that was pulled off the Norton Road into 10-foot-deep floodwaters early Sunday morning.
Devan Orrill says he and fellow firefighter Carter Hulsey were called to bring the fire department’s johnboat to the scene after the Centralia Fire Protection District working with 911 Telecommunicators had located the vehicle that had been swept about a quarter mile off the road into a field.
Orrill said fortunately the current was with them as they headed across the flooded field towards a cell phone light one of the men was holding up. He said they found one of the men in waist deep water standing on top of the car and holding onto a tree branch. When asked if he was alone, the man pointed to three others nearby that were in the vehicle that had now grabbed onto a group of trees and were hanging on to avoid being swept away.
Orrill says they were easily able to get all four men into the boat and back to dry land along Norton Road where they were checked by Lifestar Ambulance. Other than being cold from their time in the water, none complained of any injury and declined hospital treatment.
Orrill says the most work was done during the attempt to find the location of the car since all four men, in their 20s, were from out of the area and were uncertain where they were. They had followed the GPS on their car to the rural area. The 911 telecommunicators pinged cell towers to try and pinpoint the location until District Firemen were able to see the cell phone light to confirm the location. They then called the city fire department to bring out their boat.
The call seeking help came in around 3:30 Sunday morning.
