Zelienople man rescued from Connoquenessing Creek
MARION TWP, Beaver County — A Butler County man was rescued late Thursday night after the pickup truck he was driving plunged headlong into frigid Connoquenessing Creek.
Quick work by members of the Harmony Fire District and Butler County Water Rescue Team 300 was credited with saving the man from his dicey, icy predicament.
“From the time we got there, we had him out in about 10 minutes,” said Scott Garing, chief of the Harmony District and a Team 300 member.
And possibly with no time to spare, with the fear of potential hypothermia on the minds of rescuers.
Wet and shivering, the Zelienople man, believed to be in his 60s, was taken to Ellwood City Hospital. His name and his condition were not immediately available.
It also was not known what caused the man to lose control of his truck on Route 588 in Marion Township, not far from the Zelienople Municipal Airport, and travel into the creek.
State police are investigating but an accident report also was not available. The investigating trooper did not immediately return a call.
Big Knob volunteer firefighters were part of the initial call but once they got there they knew they needed help. A little after 11 p.m., Harmony Fire District and Team 300 got the call to assist.
Emergency crews found the man in the passenger seat with water up to the bottom of the seat. The front end of the pickup was in the creek
“The water was about 32 degrees,” Garing estimated.
A buildup of ice had formed around the entire creek. The truck had broken a portion of the ice where it had entered the water.
Donning dry suits and thermal layers, Garing and three other Team 300 members — Dan Sweikowski, Greg Dindinger and Justin Schoeful — headed into the water via an inflatable rescue boat.
Sweikowski and Dindinger are also Harmony Fire District firefighters and Schoeful doubles as an Evans City Volunteer Fire Department firefighter.
The crew knew it had no time to waste to get the target of its rescue out of the water since hypothermia sets in quickly, and can leave the victim dizzy, disoriented and weak.
“I walked the boat around the front of the truck,” Garing said. The water was up to his stomach.
With Big Knob firefighters perched in the bed of the truck, the rescuers eased the man out of the passenger side door and into the boat.
Rescuers took the boat downstream to a point best accessible from shoreline to road, and helped the man walk his way to safety. From there, Harmony EMS drove him to the hospital.
Tow truck operators later came and pulled the truck out of the creek.
