Jumper, Water Rescue Challenge Fire And EMS Crews

Original press release provided courtesy of the Sykesville Freedom District Fire Department Public Information Officer, Bill Rehkopf(www.Sykesvillefire.org).

The Gamber & Community Fire Company Water Rescue Team assisted the Sykesville Freedom District Fire Department with a complicated water rescue call on Tuesday, June 14, 2005, at the Liberty Reservoir located on the county line between Carroll and Baltimore Counties.
A man being transported to the hospital jumped out of a moving ambulance, and off the Route 26 bridge over the Liberty Reservoir Tuesday morning. The initial rescue effort was complicated when a civilian boat commandeered by police sank.
Sykesville-Freedom District Fire Department Capt. David Barnes said an ambulance was called to the reservoir to transport a male patient to Northwest Hospital at 11:22 a.m. on Tuesday morning. Maryland State Police and Baltimore County police officers were on the scene with the patient when EMS personnel arrived.
The stable patient was placed in the ambulance, which started toward the hospital, Capt. Barnes said, when for some reason, the patient leaped from the back of the moving ambulance and climbed over the Liberty Road bridge railing. Capt. Barnes says a full water rescue assignment was requested, including a boat and divers from the Gamber and Community Fire Company.
Capt. Barnes said the patient stood along the railing for about five minutes before leaping off the bridge approximately 30 feet into the reservoir below.
Three police officers then commandeered a civilian fishing boat and pilot and pulled the patient into the craft, according to Capt. Barnes. But the combined weight of the five men was over the capacity of the boat, which quickly sank. Additional water rescue resources were then requested to the scene.
Crews using both of Gamber's rescue boats quickly pulled the five people to shore. The original patient was stabilized and once again transported to Northwest Hospital, escorted by police. The civilian boater and three police officers were not injured, according to Barnes.
Barnes praised the quick work of fire and rescue crews to prevent a further tragedy.
Sykesville fire and EMS crews were assisted by rescuers from the Gamber and Community Fire Company, several Baltimore County Fire Department units, the Baltimore County Police Department, Maryland State Police, and the Department of Natural Resources Police.