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Two men fishing on the Occoquan River in Fairfax County, Virginia suddenly found themselves fighting for their lives Sunday afternoon. Around 1:00 PM their boat’s engine developed mechanical problems and began drifting toward the dam. The men were able to grab onto a pole as the boat dropped the approximately 75-feet to the bottom of the dam. Firefighters from Prince William County and Fairfax County were then called to try and get the men to safety.
Helicopters from U.S. Park Police and the Fairfax County Police Department and arrived on the scene and developed a rescue plan, coordinating with ground units and those on the water in rescue boats. According to Officer Tim Schilling, who was aboard the Fairfax County chopper, they lowered life jackets and helmets to the men with the expectation that the U.S. Park Police helicopter would then lower a net to the stranded fishermen.
One of the men had a different idea. He let go of the pole he was holding onto and grabbed onto the rope used to lower the safety equipment. Schilling says his crew then had no choice but to drag the man along the water, away from the dam, and toward a waiting fire department boat.
Sgt. Ken Burchell of the U.S Park Police crew says they then moved in with the Billy Pugh net and were able to get the second man to safety.
Burchell and Schilling both called this a difficult rescue operation with little margin for error. Each figured they had one chance to make the rescue and worried that a mistake could result in the men falling over the dam.
Sgt. Burchell co-piloted Eagle 1 with Sgt. Kevin Chittick. Sgt. Mark Varanelli and Officer David Hurley, both Aviation Rescue Technicians, coordinated the rescue.
Officer Schilling and Officer Jon Kaminski handled the rescue end as Chuck Angle piloted the Fairfax County helicopter.
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Ladies and Gentlemen,
Congrats on performing flawlessly! I fish BELOW that dam all the time near the water pumping station and would not have wanted to make a "recovery" from my boat yesterday.
Keep up the great work!
Ted DiBenedetto
Centreville, VA
GO R510 (DCVFD)
Wouldn't sime kind of net be advisable to keep boats from going over. That damn looks crazy dangerous
I am a whitewater kayaker with swiftwater rescue training and 47 years of experience and my comment is this: The rescue squad could have achieved the same goal with a motorboat and throwline. This would have been vastly cheaper and with significantly reduced risk to rescuers and the rescued. There was a case, in Texas I believe, where the rescue squad performed a dramatic rescue at a dam only to drop the victim to his death. These rescue personnel should know that the first rules of rescue are KEEP IT SIMPLE and DONT BECOME A VICTIM, not find a way to play with your toys.
isn't there suppose to be a wire running from one side to another? other than that i think its cool that you get to play with those awesome toys!