Teen volunteers wade in for a soggy rescue
Published: July 6, 2007
It was Monday morning, they think, when they became heroes.
Both men — still in their teens — had been up all night handling flood calls, and a fire call, and checking basements. It had been one long day for Washingtonville firefighters Matt Hodge and Nick Amendolagine, both 19.
When rain began to pour down last Sunday on this small village, and the Moodna Creek overflowed, local firefighters assisted by those from neighboring fire districts slept little and answered call after call. A normal week brings about six calls. This past week, they got more than 80.
“Basically we were already out checking on a basement,” Hodge said. “And they called and said a women was stuck in her car on Cardinal Drive.”
At the beginning of a second rain-soaked day, the woman was told by someone, perhaps a supervisor, that there was no reason not to come into work. She drove past a roadblock and into water she thought she could pass through in her SUV.
She couldn’t.
When the water got as high as the window of her car, she stopped and called 911.
The dispatcher told her to lower the window before the power shorted out.
When the fire department got the call, its members didn’t know whether the woman was still in the car or not. The windows had a dark tint. Perhaps she needed immediate help.
The boat from the Monroe Fire Department would be at least another 15 minutes.
So the two SUNY Orange freshmen volunteered to wade the 300 feet into the icy, rushing waters to get to the SUV.
When floodwaters rise and cover the streets, residents are warned to stay out for fear of downed wires or unseen creatures. But in this case, for the firefighters, the risk of not going in outweighed staying out of the water. “I don’t know, it just looked like something fun to do,” Amendolagine said, with boyish nonchalance.
“It’s not something you get to do every day,” Hodge agreed.
The two donned red wet suits. They tied themselves to ropes held by other firefighters. They walked into the waist-deep water.
They found the woman sitting Indian-style in the driver’s seat. Water had poured into her vehicle. She would be OK until the boat arrived.
The two remained with the woman until the boat came, they told her how to get out of her vehicle through the window.
Hodge and Amendolagine don’t know what happened to the woman. They got another call. They left to respond to a reported house fire.
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