Post by DixiehollinsSign of the Final Days? Dixie.
http://www.af.mil/News/ArticleDisplay/tabid/223/Article/493937/
nellis-afb-airmen-save-elderly-couple-during-flash-flood.aspx
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LAS VEGAS (AFNS) -- Three Airmen from the 820th RED HORSE, assisted by three
members of the 799th Air Base Squadron, saved an elderly couple during a
flash flood Aug. 4 while they were on their way home from their work sites
at Creech Air Force Base, Nevada.
Tech. Sgt. Adam Dixon, the first 820th RED HORSE responder, was one of the
first to see the couple’s Toyota Prius stuck in the median after they had
attempted to evade the rapid rising water by crossing over U.S. Route 95,
north of Las Vegas.
“The water was flowing over the shoulder and cutting across the road, so
people were backing up and crossing the median – which was actually lower
than the interstate – so at that point we started seeing cars get stuck in
the mud,” Dixon said. “Me and (Airmen 1st Class Joshua Parnell and
Christopher Jones from the 799th ABS) first tried to push their car out of
the mud, but it wasn’t budging. Within seconds the water went from being at
boot level to waist level, so I knew we just needed to get them out of there
at that point.”
As the water level picked up, so did the current’s force, which made opening
and holding the car door for the elderly couple to escape extremely
difficult.
“That’s when I saw Sergeant Dixon on the driver’s side yelling for them to
get out, so I ran to that side to help him hold the door open,” said Staff
Sgt. James Maxwell, the second 820th RED HORSE responder. “It was pretty
intense because we could see another car floating towards us and we didn’t
want to get pinned by it, so I know we were both pushing as hard as we could
on that door.”
After getting the door open, the elderly man quickly exited the vehicle, but
with each passing second the current grew even stronger and the man’s wife
needed additional assistance exiting the vehicle.
“Sergeant Dixon got her close to me and I grabbed her and carried her up to
higher ground,” said Airman 1st Class Christopher Fitzgerald, the third
820th RED HORSE responder. “It all happened so fast that I didn’t really
think – it was just all reaction.”
After the elderly couple were safe on the embankment of the median, one
rescuer that had been assisting the three RED HORSE members was swept away
by the current, but was grabbed and pulled out of the water by Jones, as
Parnell and Staff Sgt. Tye Warner, also with the 799th ABS, repositioned
cars on the highway so that they would not be caught and swept into the
median.
“I just saw an arm and a head flying down the water and was like, ‘I’m going
to pull them out and hope I don’t fall in,’” Jones said. “It was the right
thing to do.”
If the rescue took even a few more seconds, Dixon said the results could
have been gravely different.
“Right after the couple got out, the car floated down the median, and
seconds after that we saw it upside down,” Dixon said. “I’m just happy they
were both okay, and I’d think that even if we weren’t there, somebody else
would have gotten them out of there.”
The 820th RED HORSE commander, Col. Aaron Young, praised the rescuers for
their efforts.
“I’m very proud of their heroic actions,” Young said. “They were in the
right place at the right time and took swift, life-saving action. They are
but a few of our many great American Airmen who demonstrate extraordinary
instinct and initiative in times of need. It is an honor and privilege to
lead and serve with Airmen like them.”