Family of Five Rescued from Cuyahoga River
A family of five was rescued from the Cuyahoga River in Eldon Russell Park Aug. 13 by kayakers and local fire departments, according to a press release from Troy Township Volunteer Fire Department.
A family of five believed to be from the Euclid area was rescued from the Cuyahoga River in Eldon Russell Park Aug. 13 by kayakers and local fire departments, according to Troy Township Fire Chief Eric Mathews.
The family rented a canoe and a kayak and were about half a mile south of U.S. 422 when the Geauga County Sheriff’s dispatcher received a call that there was an accident, he said, adding the cell phone reception was poor, there was a language issue and details were sketchy, but he called for five ambulances.
“We had a boat in the water in six minutes,” Mathews said in a phone interview Aug. 16. “We were actually at the station. It was Homecoming Weekend.”
When they arrived Troy Township Volunteer Fire Department Capt. Jeff Koehn saw the canoe was sinking but the father and two youngsters were holding on and other kayakers were assisting. The mother had gotten to shore with the daughter, he said.
“Everybody was in the water at one point. A passing kayaker helped them stay afloat,” he said. “I was told all the kids had lifejackets.”
The water was cold and the parents and their children, ages 12 years, 5 years and 15 months, had been in the river for about 20 minutes when they were rescued by TTVFD’s boat and taken back to the launch.
“
The EMTs did a rapid triage in the boat and notified me what they would need in the ambulances,” Mathews said, crediting TTVFD Capt. Caitlyn Ramsey with staging the scene and lining up the ambulances to keep the rescue moving smoothly. She also contacted UHGMC to warn them of a mass casualty.
From beginning to end the event lasted about an hour, he said, adding the Geauga County Dispatch Center was essential in helping locate the site of the incident for the team in the fire department boat, he said.
Coordinates were determined by pinging the location of the cell phone used to make the 9-1-1 call. The team in the first boat launched was in touch with dispatch and directed to the site of the accident, Mathews said.
“Our dispatch center is top-notch,” he said.
Once the victims were on their way to the hospital the chief said he sent a couple of department boats down the river to retrieve the canoe and kayak and return them to the launch site.
Mutual aid was automatically dispatched from Auburn, Burton, Middlefield and Parkman departments and the family was taken to University Hospitals Geauga Medical Center for treatment of hypothermia, Mathews said. Additional ambulances came from Community Care and Hiram Fire Department.
Responding to the call besides those noted were Geauga County Drone and Dive teams, Hambden, Munson, Newbury and Mantua-Shalersville fire departments, Geauga Park District, Ohio Department of Natural Resources and Geauga County Sheriff’s officers.
In a separate post Troy FD thanked the teams at UHGMC and the dispatchers.
“With the help of all these wonderful teams our boat rescue went smoothly,” Mathews said. Everyone did an outstanding job.”
