| A woman is crediting her life today due to the quick actions of Huntingtown VFD Sergeant, Phil Morris. While working for Annapolis City FD, the evening of Saturday July 7, 2008, a storm whipped through the area leading to a dramatic rescue in the bay. A 26-year-old woman was plucked from the waters of the Chesapeake Bay near Gibson Island, after she had been tossed from a sailboat during the storm and had to tread water to survive.
The sailboat she was on lost power and went adrift in the storm, officials said. At 9:25 p.m., a person called to report the woman overboard in the bay. Crews from Anne Arundel County, the Coast Guard, the Natural Resources Police and Annapolis converged on the area. While the Natural Resources Police towed the disabled sailboat to safety, other crews searched the area.
A crew on the Annapolis fireboat heard the woman's frantic screams and plucked her from the water at 10:41 p.m. She was found 2 miles off shore. "We were searching and we heard her screaming far off. We shut down to ascertain her location. We kept going toward her screaming," said Annapolis Firefighter Phil Morris. Also aboard the Annapolis fireboat and assisting with the rescue were Acting Lt. Greg Young and Firefighter Michael Lonergan Jr.
The woman told Firefighter Morris that she had seen two lines of the storm pass her by as she tried to stay afloat. She swallowed sea water during her ordeal and became exhausted from trying to stay afloat. Firefighter Morris said they threw her a life ring and then he grabbed her arm to pull her aboard. The woman didn't say much, but when Firefighter Morris grabbed her, she said "Don't let go!"
"She didn't have a whole lot to say. She was winded. She was swimming for a long time. All she wanted was water," Firefighter Morris said. The woman was not wearing a life vest.
She was treated by crews at the scene and later was taken by ambulance to Baltimore Washington Medical Center in Glen Burnie with non-life threatening injuries, said Battalion Chief Matthew Tobia, a spokesman for the county Fire Department. Firefighter Morris said the woman was lucky and credited the rescue to "being in the right place at the right time."
"This was a great outcome," Chief Tobia said.
Story from: The Sunday Capital Newspaper (6/8/2008): http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2008/06_08-53/TOP
More links:
http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0608/526660.html
http://www.abc2news.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=74c53aa2-7077-4f89-9596-cf9f1b2d5a28&rss=702 |
