Bystanders free driver of car stuck in creek
A woman whose Toyota SUV ended up driver's-side down in the rising Glade Run Thursday night is lucky a neighbor was having air conditioning issues.
Randy Hoffman, captain at Callery Volunteer Fire Company, said firefighters, state police and Quality EMS were dispatched to a report of a vehicle in Glade Run at the intersection of Leisie and Glade Run roads in Forward Township.
Initial calls from the 911 center said a woman had been freed, but a passenger was entrapped in the vehicle, Hoffman said.
Upon his unit's arrival on the scene, Hoffman found that a small group of men who had been working on an air conditioning unit at one of the nearby houses in the rural neighborhood had heard the vehicle's tires screeching, then a bang.
The men ran toward the sound and saw the SUV laying on its driver's side in the swelling creek.
Hoffman said they reported that the woman, who was the lone occupant, was free of her seat and asking for help out of the vehicle.
The men responded without hesitation, although the rising water was waist-deep.
“They ran into the creek to assist her with getting out of the car,” Hoffman said.
First responders arrived shortly after the men had freed the woman from the partially submerged vehicle.
Hoffman said the woman, who appeared to be in her 30s, had a minor head injury and was taken from the scene by Quality EMS.
The towing company tasked with removing the vehicle from the creek requested that Butler County Water Rescue Team 300 be called to the scene to help remove the car from the rushing creek.
Hoffman said five water rescue technicians from Team 300 responded to enter the creek and connect winching equipment to the vehicle, so it could be pulled from the creek.
Trooper Josh Black of Troop D in Butler said the accident remains under investigation, but Hoffman said it appeared the woman was traveling east on Leisie Road toward the bridge, which is on a downhill slope, before entering the creek.
“I understand that's a very busy area for vehicles in the creek,” Hoffman said of the downhill slope and bend at the bridge over Glade Run.
He said the rain-swollen creek had risen 6 to 8 inches between the time of his unit's arrival and the vehicle being removed from the creek about an hour later because of the rain showers throughout the day.
“She was definitely lucky that the bystanders were in the area to assist her,” Hoffman said.
Adams Area Fire District also responded to the scene.
