SEPTEMBER 22, 2003 – A creek overflowed its banks Monday and covered a car in the first block of Frogtown Road. Two firefighters nearly drowned while trying to check the car, which
was empty
A flash flood Monday swept two firefighters into swollen Pequea Creek as they were investigating a car that had become stuck in high water! The firefighters, who flailed in murky waters for about 20 minutes before being rescued, clung to a barbed-wire fence when the creek swiftly rose. The firefighters suffered cuts and mild hypothermia before being lifted into a rescue boat. They walked into about 2 feet of water to reach a vacant car stuck in the first block of Frogtown Road shortly before 3 p.m. The firefighters tied a rope to the car so a fire truck could pull it out and, within minutes, the water level rose about 3 feet and the current pushed the men against the fence.
The Deputy Fire Chief said they could not fight the current. “Their lives were held on by that fence,” he said. “They were in imminent danger.”
The fire company arrived with a boat and launched it into the fast moving water. The firefighters were rescued, but the car was left behind until the water receded.
“This is just an example of why people should never try to cross high water in the first place,” the Chief said. “Today was a learning experience for us all.”