When Sturgis Volunteer Fire Chief Greg Wall started his Friday morning, he didn’t plan on taking a swim in the day’s sub-freezing temperatures.
That changed once he and his men arrived on scene at an a2ccident in which a female Winston County driver skidded off the road and wound up about 50 feet in the middle of a pond.
The fire chief’s daring rescue was the height of a dramatic Friday as volunteer firemen from across Oktibbeha County were dispatched to seven accidents in about two hours along Highway 25 and Highway 12.
Slick conditions caused a number of the accidents, Oktibbeha County Fire Services Coordinator Kirk Rosenhan said. Specifically, a number of cars skidded off still-frozen bridges and overpasses.
About 8 a.m., he said, the emergency line began ringing off the hook.
The first call came after three cars slid off the road on Highway 25. Then a car near Bradley sideswiped a truck.
“We were at one wreck when we got the call that another happened about a mile away. We knew we were in for a long day,” Rosenhan said.
The dramatic water rescue occurred about 9:35 a.m. on Highway 25 near Cedar Grove Road. Rosenhan said the driver’s vehicle left the road, went through a wooded area and landed upright in a pond.
By the time volunteers arrived, Wall said, a passer-by had already journeyed to the scene and was sitting atop the vehicle with the victim.
First responders decided the 29-degree weather was too cold to wait for the arrival of a small boat, so volunteers tied a rope around Wall.
He then jumped in the water.
“The water was neck deep. There was no walking. It was pretty uncomfortable,” he said. “We knew we had the potential for hypothermia, and we’re fortunate that the vehicle landed upright.”
The trio warmed up in emergency vehicles at the scene, and Wall changed clothes in an ambulance.
“Luckily, they had some clothes there for us. Some of them even halfway fit me,” he joked.
The good Samaritan had already left the scene by the time Wall dried off, warmed up and changed. Wall said he didn’t get the man’s name, only that he was also from Winston County.
The driver was uninjured in the crash. Since she had no nearby family members, volunteers drove her back to her home in Winston County.
“We’re not going to leave anyone alone like that. It’s the neighborly thing to do,” Rosenhan said.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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