At 1:54 p.m. Saturday, emergency crews were called to a water rescue at a north Edmonton pond.
Firefighters arrived at the pond, near 82 Street and Crystallina Nera Way, at 2 p.m.
“At 13:54, we received the call. We arrived at 14:00. Our people found the girl at 14:04, had her in advanced life support care immediately,” acting district fire Chief Ed Pitman said. “We treated it as a rescue the whole time and she’s in the care of Alberta Health Services.
“I’m unaware of her condition at this time.”
Pitman couldn’t confirm the victim’s age or what lead up to her being in the water.
A neighbour told Global News that two sisters were walking their dog around the pond when the dog jumped in and one of the girls went in after it. The woman said the girl disappeared and her sister screamed for help. She said two other neighbours ran down and tried to rescue the girl.
“Some local guys were trying to rescue her, and, from my understanding, they got caught in the mud and were very frustrated by the conditions,” Pitman said.
“I saw them as I pulled up on scene. Our people had the RDC (rapid deployment craft) deployed and within a couple of minutes of my arrival — maybe a minute — they had her and pulled her onto the RDC and pulled her onto shore.”
Pitman estimated the girl was about 15 to 20 feet off the shore when she was found.
He said, given the conditions, firefighters found her quickly.
“Our people had a bit of a struggle to find her.
“The water has no visibility, zero visibility, but they did a great job finding her and getting her out quickly,” Pitman said.
“I worked as a dive rescue technician with NARs when they were around, and we did these searches inch by inch on the bottom, by feel, completely by feel. So, for us to find her as quickly as we did was pretty darn good,” he said, his voice breaking.
More to come…
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