When a pickup truck crashed through the barriers of the old iron bridge fishing pier at Stephens County Park on New Year’s Eve, plunging into Lake Hartwell, it set into motion a two-county, two-state response.
The wreck happened in the area known as Broken Bridges, two sections of a bridge that formerly connected Stephens County, Ga., with Oconee County, S.C.
To complicate matters, the water level of Lake Hartwell was extremely high with a strong current created by water releases from Lake Yonah.
Stephens County 9-1-1/Emergency Management Agency Director Danielle Rhodes said anytime there is a crash into a body of water the urgency increases.
“In this case, we had a lot of information coming at us that we had to sort through,” Rhodes said. “There was a lot of speculation as to how many people were in the truck at the time of the accident, therefore adding to the potential number of victims to be recovered. It wasn’t until we were able to get the tag off of the vehicle and find out who was actually driving it that we were confident in the number of victims, which was only one. Up until that point, no one knew for 100-percent certainty how many people could’ve been in the water.”
Because water rescues don’t happen every day, Stephens County depends on volunteers to respond to incidents such as the one that happened New Year’s Eve.
“Stephens County Search and Rescue is comprised completely of volunteers,” Rhodes said. “They do fall under the Stephens County Emergency Management Agency umbrella, which is one of my departments. We are experienced in land navigation and search and rescue. Diving is a new part of our unit in that we are working to get the team going again. Currently, we are certifying several members as divers and some of them already have their certifications. We are working toward a full dive team at this time. We received a $30,000 grant last year to obtain diving equipment to outfit four divers and one diving trailer to haul all of the gear.”
For that reason, Stephens County utilized mutual aid from a number of state and local agencies to ensure a safe and successful operation.
In addition to Stephens County Search and Rescue, personnel from the following agencies responded: Stephens County Sheriff's Office, Stephens County Coroner's Office, Stephens County 9-1-1 Communications, Stephens County Emergency Management Agency and Rescue Unit, Stephens County Emergency Medical Service, Stephens County Fire Departments Shiloh Station 6 and Big Smith Station 4, Stephens County Recreation Department, Stephens County Public Works, Stephens County Maintenance Department, Hall County Dive and Water Response Team, Oconee County South Carolina Emergency Services, Oconee County South Carolina Sheriff's Department, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Georgia State Patrol, Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency, Buck Buchanan with Dive 911, Georgia Power Co., the American Red Cross, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, according to Rhodes.
“There were a lot of agencies represented on this scene,” Rhodes said. “Oconee County (S.C.) Emergency Services, especially their dive team, was phenomenal in helping us. They have more trained personnel and we did let them take the lead for operations while our divers supported them. They brought in equipment and boats that they used during the event. We are still in our beginning stages of our dive team, so we don’t have the experience, personnel, or the equipment they do. They really went to bat for us. They did an amazing job and we couldn’t have done it without them.”
Because of the dozens of personnel and the extended time of the operation, many organizations and individuals in Stephens County and beyond reached out to help.
“We are truly blessed to be in a community that is supportive of their first responders and all of public safety,” Rhodes said. “We had numerous private citizens that showed up with food and coffee for all of us. There were several local businesses that donated food to us as well. The American Red Cross came in and brought several meals for 70-plus responders and had plans on continuing to bring meals throughout the incident. In a scene like this or any scene, these things are vital to a successful operation. We need to be able to keep responders full and hydrated so they don’t exhaust or overexert themselves. The community really stepped up and showed their support to us. We are appreciative of them so much.”
Anytime an operation extends into multiple hours, command staff must work to ensure responders take breaks and rest.
“This was a 22-hour operation,” Rhodes said. “We had members that were there through the entire event. One member slept in my truck for some time to rest. These folks are dedicated and sometimes it’s a challenge to get them to take care of themselves because they don’t want to stop what they are doing. However, we had a lot of responders on the scene that had each others’ backs, so folks were able to rest if needed.”
Because that section of Lake Hartwell is located on the state line, officials from both Stephens County and Oconee County, S.C., responded and participated in the efforts.
“Obviously, there are going to be jurisdiction concerns when you are dealing with any kind of state line boundaries,” Rhodes said. “We do have mutual aid agreements in place with Oconee County, S.C., for this very sort of thing. However, in this case, the priority was to work together to find the victim and the vehicle. Jurisdiction wasn’t an issue. When someone’s life is on the line, it doesn’t matter what name is on your uniform. We are all there to do the same thing, which is to protect life and property.”
Additionally, this was the first time many of those involved in the response had worked together.
“Another challenge is working with people you’ve never worked with before or even met,” Rhodes said. “I met Scott Krein, Oconee County (SC) Emergency Management director, for the first time on this scene. The SCSAR assistant chief and Scott worked together really well to get the job done, as did all of the responders on the water. They both had to make quick decisions at times and you would never know that they hadn’t done this before. So, while it could’ve been a challenge, we didn’t let it become a challenge – which is crucial to a successful operation.”
While the outcome of Monday night’s wreck was not what responders had hoped for, they were able to recover the victim and the vehicle involved.
“I believe that being able to complete our mission does give responders comfort in knowing that they did their job,” Rhodes said. “You always hope to save lives, but when you can’t save lives, you want to be able to recover victims and property for the family to give them some sort of peace and closure.”
