MIDDLETOWN – The outcome for a 14-year-old township girl who fell into the frigid waters of Sandy Hook Bay could have been decidedly—and tragically—different, warned a member of the township’s Emergency Medical Services.
“It is certainly possible if she had gone under the ice she might not have been able to come up from under the ice,” as a opposed to being safely rescued, suspected Bob Pfleger, public information officer for the township EMS.
The girl, after being removed from the water was treated at the scene for hypothermia and transported to Riverview Medical Center, Red Bank, officials said.
On Tuesday afternoon, the girl and a teenage female friend had been apparently walking out on a large storm water drainage pipe, jutting into Sandy Hook Bay, from the beachfront at the end of Leonard Avenue, in the township’s Leonardo section, said Det. Lieut. Stephen Dollinger, a police spokesman.
One of the girls, who has not been identified, had slipped off of the water pipe, falling through the mostly ice-covered bay, into water that hovered at approximately 30 degrees, according to Pfleger.
The girl had submerged to about her waist and with her clothes becoming saturated she was having difficulty trying to extricate herself from the ice floes and water.
The problem, Pfleger pointed out, “It looked like a solid sheet of ice because of the snow the night before.” But in reality, it was a series “of chunks of ice that were pieces of a jigsaw puzzle up against the shore,” he said.
“And that proposes a problem for rescuers,” he noted.
“We were all cold. It was very cold out there,” said Leonardo First Aid and Rescue Squad First Lieut. Christine Romo, the scene commander. “Not only for the people in the water but for our rescuers as well.
“It’s not an easy job,” Romo said.
The girl’s friend and an adult woman had unsuccessfully tried to pull the girl out of the water. Police were the first to arrive but determined the ice was too unstable and waited for EMS and its equipment to arrive, according to Pfleger.
Approximately 20 members of the township’s Brevent Park and Leonardo, Community and Navesink volunteer fire companies had joined about 15 EMS members, including two divers, who dressed in thermal dry suits, were able to reach and remove the girl, according to John Isaksen, public information officer for the Middletown Fire Department.
Romo recalled by that time a crowd had gathered on the beach to watch emergency personnel get the girl to safety, while television news helicopters buzzed overhead. This was a situation Romo, a trained medic, had never faced before, she acknowledged. But the crew, supported by members from the Leonardo and Port Monmouth EMS members, was prepared, Romo stressed.
“It is something we train for,” to deal with rescues in extreme weather and situations, added Pfleger. He said EMS divers had undergone a training session on Sunday.
The girl was a little shaken up but in good spirits, Pfleger was told by EMS members at the scene. “She was a trouper through the whole thing, very cooperative,” he said.
Her condition was believed to be non-life threatening according to EMS personnel at the scene, “and I’m assuming the outcome was pretty good,” for her, Pfleger said.
A spokesman for Riverview Medical Center said due to privacy considerations, no information about the patient could be made public.
The girl’s companion did not require any medical treatment, according to Pfleger.
After the girl was transported to the hospital, EMS members gathered at the First Aid station to gather and talk over the ordeal before returning home, Como said.
“Everybody was just really proud of how everyone worked together and got the girl out safely,” she said. “We all take volunteering to heart and it’s great at the end of the day, to know you did something to help someone.”
“If it had to happen this is probably the best possible scenario,” given the outcome, Pfleger offered. But there is a message here about the dangers of going out on untested ice-covered water.
“The best advice is to stay off of it,” he warned. “The outcome was as good as possible but the next person may not be so lucky.”
–By Muriel J. Smith, Christina Johnson and John Burton
