A scary crash happened on a Louisville, Kentucky, bridge on Friday, and the ensuing rescue mission looked like something straight out of Hollywood. The George Rodgers Clark Memorial Bridge in Louisville, better known to locals as the Second Street Bridge, is a four-lane truss bridge that connects Louisville with Jeffersonville, Indiana. It is an old, heavily traveled bridge with a 35 mph speed limit, but local first responders never dreamed they would have to put their training into use in such an extreme setting.
Reports say that around noon, several vehicles were involved in an accident, causing the northbound truck to swerve, cross the southbound lanes, and crash through the guard rail. The ensuing accident left the cab of the truck dangling precariously over the Ohio River, with the wedged trailer being the only thing keeping the crippled semi from plunging into the river below.
Louisville first responders were on the scene in three minutes, where they spent the next tense forty minutes assembling a rigging to lower help down to the stranded driver. Bryce Carden, a 29-year-old firefighter from Louisville, rappelled down to the cab of the crippled truck and hooked the driver up before pulling her to safety.
Louisville Fire Chief Brian O’Neill said: “All the credit goes right here. These are some serious heroes. This was some really professional, well-practiced, well-trained stuff. These men and women make me so proud. This motivates the heck out of me every day.” Chief O’Neill said about the hero firefighter Carden, “This guy is probably one of the nicest, happiest guys that you’ll ever want to meet in your life, and he is the exact right person to put down there to try to keep that patient calm.”
While first responders train for these types of extreme situations, a firefighter may go his entire career without such an emergency. However, Carden was unflappable. The hero first responder said: “I was not nervous at all going over the edge because I knew that they had me on the top side. Once I reached her, she was super calm, collected and helped me do what I needed to do to get her to safety, essentially. And it all worked out for the best, and we’ll go back to quarters and get ready to do it again if we have to.”
Carden was lowered down, where he found the driver, a female Veteran, still buckled up but very calm and cooperative. Carden then cut her seat belt, maneuvered her into the safety harness, and began the long retreat to safety. He continued: “She was praying a lot, and I was praying right there with her.”
Carden said that while the Louisville Fire Department has done some daring things, this tops all of it. He added: “We’ve definitely done a few crazy things, but yes, this tops it so far. Like I said, we trained for this situation probably a hundred times, but they actually put it in action. It felt good.” Three others involved in the accident were taken to local hospitals, with one person’s condition being described as “serious.” As for the truck driver, she walked to the ambulance and was transported as a precaution, but otherwise, she was okay.
It was like a scene from a Hollywood movie, minus the woke themes and with actual real heroes. Bryce Carden didn’t waver when it came his time to save a life, and that is precisely why first responders are the real heroes we should all look up to.
Featured image screen grab from embedded video
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