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A Little Background
As most divers who know me, know I started diving in 1997 with the Columbia No. 1 Fire Department as a rescue/recovery diver in training. After a year of it, I kind of "laxed" off and got a way from it. About 6 or 7 months ago I had a discussion with Diver Dan and he asked me whatever happened to the team and I described everything to him and he told me that it was a good thing and I should get it going again. Well I contact the Dep Chief Joe Felus and we went thru the motions and it got started. Since then I have recruited some divers and some one to help run it and we are now in the process of moving forward. The divers from Smokeys who are involved are Me, Shawn Candy [to help run incidents] Jim Brown, Scott Steinbaecher, Bryan Palmer and Chris Mayo.
The Incident
After The Rock and I finished diving on Sunday morning at BSC I was heading south on Rt 441 behind The Rock and checking my messages when I received a call from Todd Stahl from the fire dept. and he informed me of the situation. I flashed The Rock and he pulled over and we agreed to go.
The following is my report to the fire department:
I arrived on the scene at noon, with fellow dive team member Scott Steinbaecher. I was instructed by deputy chief Joe Felus to hold tight until they devise a plan. Once a plan was ready we geared up and headed down to the waters edge.
We [Myself, Scott Steinbaecher and Gary ?] entered the water approximately 15 yards down current of the overturned automobile. We proceeded to surface swim parallel to shore with our heads in the water to search for anything that might have washed out of the car. The water varied from 3 feet to 6 feet in depth. Upon reaching the overturned automobile, my objective was to search the passenger side for: doors closed, windows intact and to see if I could see inside the car for victims. The overturned automobile was submerged in the silt up to the bottom of the windows. I could not see in.
I proceeded around the rear of the car to the drivers side. I noticed the hatchback window was broken out and the rear window on the drivers side was also broken out. I reached the drivers side door and tried to see in, but could not, it was too submerged. The window was broken out and I reached in and felt what I believed to be a victim.
I reported back to shore what I had found and seen and they instructed me to remove the body. I returned to the drivers side of the car and opened the door about 2 feet. Once I had the door open the top of the victims torso and head fell down in front of my line of site. Gary ? came over to assist me in opening the car door a few more feet. We checked and made sure the victim was not wearing a seatbelt and once everything was set, I pulled the victim from the car and floated him to Scott who floated him to Gary to take to the shore.
Once the victim was cleared from us we had to enter the car and confirm there were no more victims. I dropped to the attempted to enter the car and confirm, but due to my "twin tank set-up" I was to large to fully penetrate. I retreated and allowed Scott an attempt to confirm there were more victims, but he could not fit either. Once he retreated, we decided I could take my tanks off and utilize my 7 ft. hose to enter the car unencumbered. I entered the car and moved to touch the passenger door and the back seats and to the best of my ability confirm there were no more victims. Since I could not see, I reached and touched every part of the car I could to confirm this.
We then proceeded back down stream to our entry/exit point and exited the water.
The following is the article from the morning paper:
Man dies after car crashes in creek
By Charles Lardner - Oct 20, 2003, 09:53 EST - Intelligencer Journal
Divers found the body of a 21-year-old man inside his partially submerged car Sunday morning after he apparently crashed into a bridge along Route 441 in West Hempfield and landed in Chickies Creek.
West Hempfield Township police identified the victim as Aaron William Bird, 21, of 183 W. Market St., Hellam.
Police were called to the scene about 9:30 a.m. when someone called 911 after spotting a car in the creek, but police believe the accident happened hours earlier.
Police are still investigating the accident, but emergency workers said it appears Bird was driving north on Route 441 and approaching the bridge on a steep section of road when he lost control of his car.
"It hit the west side of the bridge and flew about 150 feet and landed upside down in the middle of the creek," Tom Brill, chief of Marietta Fire Company, said. "We are under the assumption that this happened around 3 a.m."
Dr. Miles Newman of the Lancaster County Coroner's Office pronounced Bird dead at the scene. The cause of death won't be known until an autopsy is completed today.
Emergency workers from Columbia and West Hempfield fire companies assisted during the lengthy rescue effort, which took about six hours. Route 441 was closed until about 3:30 p.m., Brill said. The Red Cross supplied emergency workers with food and beverages.
Anyone with information about the accident is asked to call West Hempfield Police at 285-5191.
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