Real-life heroes honored for being in the right place
Published: May 25, 2006
Lifting a van out of a winter stream and saving the driver was all in a days work for some local heroes.
On March 10, Jose Campos, Juan Montalvo, Jose Diaz, Jon Geissler and Leesa Kofmehl helped a man whose van had gone into Des Moines Creek. They were awarded with plaques at the South King Fire & Rescue’s commissioner meeting on Thursday.
The driver, in his 70s, said his leg cramped and his foot pressed down the accelerator while driving along the road. He went through a wooden fence and the van tipped on its side into Des Moines Creek.
The men, who work for AA Party Rentals, were inside a nearby building setting up equipment and tables for the Des Moines Rotary Wine Festival. Kofmehl was there helping.
They heard a noise outside and Geissler thought some tents they had set-up had fallen down. When they saw the van, the five sprang into action without hesitation.
It was filling with water on the driver’s side and the only way to get to the driver out was to right the van.
Campos, Montalvo, Diaz and Geissler are used to manual labor and lifting heavy objects day in and day out.
“It wasn’t very heavy,” said Jose Diaz of lifting the van.
They pushed from the driver’s side until it was at an angle they couldn’t get it much higher.
Giessler credited Diaz and Campos with quick thinking to take apart some of the fence to brace the van. Kofmehl pulled the driver out.
“We were at the right place at the right time,” Campos said.
Anyone could have done what they did, he added.
When South King Fire and Rescue crews got to the scene, their only job was to check the driver for injuries. He was not hurt.
Then the men went back to work.
As others marveled at the story, Geissler had a simple explanation.
“We had a deadline to hit,” he said.
If you enjoyed this good news Subscribe to Good News Blog
Share this
To share this simply copy and paste one of the below URL's: