More video from the rescue
I some how missed this one when it occurred last Wednesday. I guess I am not alone because I couldn’t find it on Firegeezer and some how Gary Sharp missed sucking this one up for FireSpecialOps.com. It’s about a man who has his priorities. His name is David Kelley.
Photo by Tom Heffernan, Sr./Special to the Times Union.
Kelley, 65, was determined to try out his brand new custom fly rod on the Normans Kill River in Albany, New York. So determined that he didn’t realize until it was too late that the river was just a little too much for him as he waded out into the middle. Lucky for Kelley, just as determined was Firefighter Keith Cipollo from the rescue squad at Albany’s Arbor Hill firehouse. Despite being in a heap of trouble, Kelley wasn’t about to let go of his brand new rod. Here’s how Paul Grondahl at TimesUnion.com described it:
According to witnesses, Kelley, who appeared to be middle-aged, was bent on testing out a new custom fly rod in advance of the April 1 start of trout season.
“I told him to drop the pole as I was trying to help him, but he wouldn’t,” Cipollo said. “He said he just got it.”
When the fisherman realized he was in trouble, he apparently called for help to people on shore.
He had enough sense to remain put instead of trying to wade across the treacherous, roiling whitewater.
“If he fell like I fell trying to get across, he would have been swept down the creek, and that was not a good move,” Cipollo said. “He was stuck there in a very precarious position.”
Firefighters, police and emergency rescue personnel from Albany, Bethlehem and Slingerlands used ropes and other equipment to get to Kelley. He managed to walk to safety, inching himself slowly along the rope. He got out on the Bethlehem side of the Normans Kill after getting in on the Albany side.
He never dropped his fly rod.
“He was very attached to that fishing pole,” Cipollo said.
Also on STATter911 …
- Quick Takes – March 16, 2010
- UPDATED – Biting the hand that rescues you: Radio traffic & must see video of dog being pulled from Los Angeles River by chopper crew. LAFD has severe arm & hand injuries. Questions about the risk already being asked. – January 22, 2010
- What the fire department didn’t do (couldn’t, wouldn’t, shouldn’t may also fit), but the power company did. – March 27, 2010
- Anatomy of a fire: Watch as arcing power lines set resale store on fire in Palatine, Illinois. – June 19, 2010
Send him a bill for services rendered. Retard! Same goes for the retards that drive thru high water. Some people just don’t get it.