Editor’s note: the following interview has been edited for clarity.
CV NEWS FEED // A firefighter who saved the driver of a semi-truck that was dangling off of a bridge over the Ohio River last week said that he prayed with the driver during the mid-air rescue.
On March 1 at about 12 p.m. a three vehicle crash occurred on the Clark Memorial Bridge in Louisville, Kentucky, crossing the Ohio River into Indiana. The crash caused a Sysco semi-truck to swerve, and half of the truck narrowly crossed through the bridge’s rails.
The semi-truck was wedged in between the railing of the bridge, suspending the truck’s front cabin precariously over the Ohio River with the driver still inside.
Police and the Louisville Fire Company responded within three minutes of the crash’s report. At least two people were transferred to the hospital with injuries as a result of the crash.
To rescue the semi-truck driver, firefighter Bryce Carden repelled down from the bridge from a rope system.
“It was a constant concern that [the] truck could shift at any moment,” Fire Chief Brian O’Neill said in a press conference after the rescue, according to local news outlet WHAS 11. “It’s extremely lucky that the entire truck didn’t go into the river.”
The rescue took approximately forty-five minutes. Once Carden reached the semi-truck’s driver, who was stuck in her seatbelt, he was able to secure her to a harness attached to his rope system.
Carden said in the press conference that during the rescue, “She was praying a lot and I prayed with her.”
In an interview on March 4 with news outlet WDRB 4, Carden elaborated and said that when he reached the truck’s cab and secured the driver, the driver repeatedly said, “Thank God.”
Once Carden secured the driver to the harness and removed her from the truck, the two of them waited, secured by the rope about a hundred feet above the river, while the Fire Department team worked to reset the pulley system.
During this wait, Carden explained on WDRB 4, he asked the driver about praying. “I heard her already pray, I knew it, but I said, ‘are you a praying woman?’” Carden recalled. The driver responded, “I am.”
“I said, ‘alright well, start praying for both of us.’ And so we started praying together. So it was good. It was calming,” Carden said.
The fire team eventually brought Carden and the driver to safety on the bridge, which remained closed for the remainder of the day.
O’Neill said in the press conference that the rescue team trains for these situations “all the time,” on bridges, cliffsides, and highrises. He added that this situation was a “worst-case scenario.”
Carden, who has been a member of the Fire department for six years, said similarly in the press conference.
“We’ve done some crazy things, but this tops it all,” he said. “It all goes back to training. We’ve done this probably a hundred times. Once I reached her she was super calm and collected, and allowed us to do what we do.”
O’Neill also commended the driver’s bravery in the news conference.
“As soon as she hit the ground, she let her emotions go,” O’Neill said. “She’s a very brave woman. Here she is dangling over the edge. But think about having to hook her up and get her into the harness. If you have someone who panics, it can be dangerous. But she was a champ.”
O’Neill and Carden both praised their entire team for their crucial efforts in rescuing the driver.
“We are willing to risk a lot to save a lot,” O’Neill said. “These men and women make me so proud.”
A full video of the rescue can be watched here.
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