Bolivar fire chief proud of his team after water rescue
CANTON – Bolivar’s fire chief is praising his firefighters involved in Monday’s water rescue in Canton. A 28-year-old man lost control of his pickup truck in I-77 South on Monday, crossed the median and crashed into a creek.
The truck was upside-down in the water with the man trapped inside. Bolivar Fire Lieutenant Kent Thompson and firefighters Sarah Valentine and Ashley Curtner just happened to be returning from Aultman Hospital when witnesses flagged them down. Within 6 minutes of the initial 9-1-1 call, Valentine, Curtner and Canton firefighter Kyle Gallagher, a Claymont graduate, had the man out of the vehicle, and onshore where they performed life-saving measures.
Bolivar Fire Chief Shawn Lynch sees it as more than coincidence.
“For the people who want to believe, which I’m one of them, it was one of the divine interventions of God putting the right people in the right place at the right time to help this young man.”
Lynch says if it hadn’t been happenstance, the Bolivar firefighters on scene could have otherwise been hand-picked. Thompson, a veteran firefighter with previous experience in Dover, took charge of the situation. Curtner is a certified rescue diver. Valentine is in the Army Reserve.
“Both of those guys are like rock stars and doing a lot of things to help our community,” he said. “Again, I couldn’t be more proud of those guys right now.
“At the end of the day, they’re just good people. And those two are some of the best people I’ve ever come across in my life. I’m very proud of both of them beyond even this call. They’re just great people to be around. I’m blessed to have them.
“This is just an example of what everybody in the fire service nationwide does all day and every day. We just try to help people.”
Valentine is moving on from the Bolivar Fire Department. She will be sworn in as a New Philadelphia firefighter on Friday night.
Meanwhile, Lynch says the pickup truck driver has been transferred to a higher care facility in the Columbus area.