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Two DeLeon area residents were rescued by
DeLeon Volunteer Firemen from flood waters on the Leon River last
Wednesday, June 27. The second, and more dramatic rescue, involved one
of their own.
Around 9:45 a.m. DeLeon Volunteer Firemen
were called out for a high water rescue on CR 454 at the Leon River
crossing. Glenda Hargrove had become trapped in her stalled pickup as
she attempted to cross rising floodwaters. Water levels reached almost
to window height before she was rescued at around 10:45 a.m.
A road maintainer driven by Barry Clark
from Comanche County Precinct 4 was used to transport rescuers to
Hargrove's pickup in the swift flowing high waters.
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STRANDED RESCUER. DeLeon Volunteer Fireman Mike Murphy fell
victim to floodwaters last Wednesday afternoon and had to rely on
his fellow firemen to rescue him from peril. |
After Hargrove's rescue, one of the
DeLeon Firemen who had participated in the rescue, Mike Murphy,
discovered that his Labrador retriever, Casey, was missing. Murphy was
especially fond of Casey, having owned and hunted with him for around
16 years. Murphy began searching along the banks of the rising river.
DeLeon Fire Chief Doyle Rone was aware of
the missing dog and kept in two-way radio contact with Murphy. As Rone
was preparing to drive out to the river to give Murphy a ride home,
Rhonda Murphy drove up to the fire station. Rone invited her to come
along to console Murphy over the still missing dog.
Rone, approached the river from the south
side, where Murphy’s truck was stalled, however, he was unable to
immediately find his friend. Murphy had, in the meantime, been driven
to the north side of the river by another friend.
Murphy was wearing a life vest and a
two-way radio. When he heard that Rone had arrived at the river
bottom, he attempted to cross the flooded roadway on foot and was
swept downstream.
Murphy did not go far downstream,
however, before he managed to grab hold of a tree trunk.
Rone lost contact with Murphy around 2:00 p.m. and immediately called
other DeLeon firemen back to the scene to search for their missing
comrade.
Murphy attempted to contact Rone with his
radio. The other firemen could not hear anything, however, Murphy's
radio number was appearing on their radio screens, so they kept
desperately searching. He was soon located, holding onto the tree
trunk.
Rone and another DeLeon fireman, Cloyd
Teague, had recently participated in swift water rescue training. The
pair got an early opportunity to employ their newly acquired skills as
they tried to save their stranded fellow firefighter.
Murphy, although an active firefighter,
had suffered a heart attack not long before, and everyone was worried
about his stamina as he held on in the cold, fast moving flood.
The first rescue attempt involved Cloyd
Teague jumping into the river upstream with a rope attached and then
desperately swimming toward the middle where Murphy was stranded.
Murphy yelled encouragement to Teague, but the swift water swept the
would be rescuer downstream well before he reached his destination.
Others were listening to the fire channel
radio traffic and aware of the desperate situation. Two helicopters,
one an air ambulance and one a DPS rescue craft, were volutarily sent
to the scene. Precinct 4 Commissioner Jimmy Dale Johnson also sent a
road maintainer from DeLeon, although it had to take a long route to
approach the Leon River CR 454 crossing from the north.
The large mass of tree canopies prevented
the rescue helicopter from being able to be used.
During the long wait for the maintainer to arrive, Murphy became
visibly weary and chilled, indicating that he was not okay when asked.
All his wife Rhonda and his firefighter friends could do was to hope
and pray, and try to give him encouragement from the shoreline that
help was coming.
When the maintainer arrived, a five man
team of DeLeon firefighters crawled onto the front with ropes and
other water rescue gear. The equipment operator, Jerry Shook, drove
the fireman-laden maintainer into the high water, attempting to stay
on the invisible roadway as it led into the middle of the still rising
flood.
Because of the high mounting of road
grader motors and their heavy weight, they are able to operate in
deeper water than many other vehicles and types of movable equipment.
Once in position even with Murphy, the
firemen let out a rope with a float attached. Murphy was able to grab
the line and secure it to the tree.
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PULLING MURPHY TO SAFETY. Fellow firefighter Cloyd Teague
again entered the raging Leon River floodwaters after a rope line
had been fed downstream to Murphy’s tree and secured. Other
firemen then lowered Teague to Murphy’s location where he was able
to secure a hold on his weary buddy and the two were then towed
back to safety. |
Cloyd Teague, with another rope attached,
was then allowed to float down along the first rope to Murphy.
Although it seemed to take a long time to accomplish, the towing of
Murphy and Teague back to the maintainer was completed fairly quickly
as Rone, Joe Burnett, Dan Moss and Todd Morris helped pull the pair to
safety.
The joyous rescue crew and a relieved
Mike Murphy then backed out of the water onto relatively dry ground,
where he was loaded into a waiting ambulance. Although very tired and
deeply chilled from the two and a half hours in the cold water, he
declared he was okay. Murphy reportedly refused to go to the hospital
and he and his wife were given a courtesy trip to their home in
DeLeon.
Many of those who had gathered at the
scene congratulated the rescuers.
Casey, however, remained missing until he
was located a couple of hours later, approximately two miles
downstream.
Murphy expressed his gratitude for both
his rescue and for the return of his old canine friend.
Fire Chief Rone later expressed his deep gratitude to those who
volunteered to send helicopters and the road maintainer to assist in
the rescue effort. |
