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A Saskatoon police officer is being hailed for “incredible bravery” after the dramatic rescue of a teen boy who was trapped in a storm drain by rushing rainwater last week.
The potentially life-threatening incident was serious and scary for both the teen and first responders, said Sean Thody, the deputy fire chief who was at the scene.
“When something like that happens and then you realize that you’re in a situation that you potentially may not get out of, it takes a toll on people,” Thody told CBC’s Saskatoon Morning.
A dramatic rescue
Officers were called to a dog park near the 3700 block of Kinnear Avenue around 8 p.m. CST on Aug. 14, police said in a post on social media.
They found a young man inside a storm drain, pinned against the bars of a grate by rushing water.
“Pushing yourself against that type of, you know, high flow and volume of water is physically impossible,” Thody said.
Saskatoon emergency crews responded on Saturday afternoon to reports of a personal watercraft rider going over the weir on the South Saskatchewan River. The fire department has since announced that the operation has shifted from a rescue to a recovery mission. Linda Mushanski joins Saskatoon Morning to talk about river safety.
The first officer at the scene crawled into the drain and held the boy’s head above water, police said. The officer stayed there until the fire department arrived and co-ordinated a rescue.
The rescue was “organized chaos,” Thody said. Crews used spreaders to wrench apart some of the grate, then saws to cut through two or three metal bars to make enough space for the teen to pass through, he said.
The rescue took nearly two hours and then the teen was taken to hospital, police said.
The officer “demonstrated incredible bravery by assisting in what could have been a life-threatening situation,” police wrote on social media. They did not release the officer’s name.
How did this happen?
Four teenaged boys got into the stormwater system through an outfall, the City of Saskatoon’s water and waste operations department said in a statement to CBC News. When it started raining, the storm sewers started filling up.
While three of the boys escaped, one was washed away toward an outfall covered by a grate and was trapped, the city said.
Before emergency responders arrived, the three other teens were helping block some of the water from hitting their friend so he could breathe, Thody said. They were later moved down the road while the rescue was ongoing.
The increased flow from the Gardiner Dam is helping scour away years of silt buildup along the South Saskatchewan River, something residents say they’re pleased to see. However, authorities continue to urge caution as strong currents create hazardous conditions.
After the incident, city officials are warning residents to stay out of city infrastructure like sewers, bridges or electrical substations.
Only authorized staff should be accessing those sites, the city said.
“These areas are extremely dangerous and should never be explored,” the statement reads.
Crews inspect outfalls, but residents should report dangerous or compromised infrastructure to officials, the city said.
