Louisville firefighter recounts dramatic rescue from semi truck hanging over Ohio River
A truck driver is pulled to safety after a crash leaves her cab dangling over the Ohio River between Louisville and southern Indiana.
A dramatic video from 비바카지노 Viva NewsChopper shows a Louisville firefighter rappelling down and bringing the woman to safety.
Watch the rescue below:
Four vehicles were involved in the lunchtime crash on the Clark Memorial Bridge, also known as the 2nd Street Bridge.
Two people were sent to the hospital, where at least one of them has what Louisville's mayor calls "very serious" injuries.
Unharmed was the driver of the semi, who escaped injury and maybe even death after an incredible act of bravery.
"I was not nervous at all going over the edge," said Louisville firefighter Bryce Carden, who performed the solo rescue.
Louisville Fire was on the crash scene in just three minutes.
It took about 40 minutes to set up a rope system so the 29-year-old JCPS graduate could rappel down to the cab and talk to the female driver.
"She was just praying a lot, and I prayed with her," said Carden. "Everything slows down, and you think about what needs to be done."
Rescue divers were positioned in the water below in case Carden or the truck driver fell into the Ohio.
Louisville Fire Chief Brian O'Neill describes what his firefighter encountered next.
"As you're going to someone being rescued, obviously they're scared," said Chief O'Neill. "This is a horrible situation. She's dangling off the edge of a bridge. Doesn't know if it's going to slip in. She stayed very, very calm. Firefighter Carden got to her. Kept her calm. He had to cut her out of her seatbelt. Helped her get into the rescue harness she was able to wear and assist her once she was locked in."
"I told her, I said just take a deep breath and here's what I need you to do because I needed her to assist in moving certain ways to be able to get the harness on right," said Carden. "Once we did that, we got her free of the seatbelt, and she was on my system, so we knew we were good from there. We just needed to bring her on up."
Once safely on the bridge, the truck driver, a military veteran, was taken to the hospital as a precaution but appeared to be ok.
Nearly seven hours after the crash happened, the semi was hoisted up.
Louisville Metro Police are investigating what caused the crash.
For now, the bridge will remain closed in both directions until a safety inspection is conducted.
"At this time, we're going to leave the bridge closed until our team can go and look at the structure of the bridge itself and determine the extent of the damage and when that can possibly be reopened," said Kentucky Transportation Cabinet highway engineer James Ballinger.
A dramatic and heroic scene playing out over the Ohio River on a rainy Friday afternoon.
A courageous firefighter risking his life to save another.
"We've definitely done a few crazy things. This tops it so far," said Carden. "We train for this situation probably a hundred times but to actually put it into action, it felt good. We had a successful rescue. Now we go back and do it again if we have to."
The Clark Memorial Bridge was built in 1929 as a two-lane bridge.
Now, it has four lanes.
Each lane is only 10 1/2 feet wide, which doesn't leave much room for error, according to transportation officials, who add there is no timetable for when the bridge will reopen.
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