TOWN OF POUGHKEEPSIE – Four teens were rescued from the flood-swollen Wappingers Creek by a bevy of first responders on Monday evening at approximately 8:20 p.m. The teens were trying to swim in the creek and became stranded on an island that formed when the fast-moving water rose over the banks and surrounded a small piece of terrain.
Six teens began the ill-advised swimming trip. Four of them became stranded while the other two were able to make it to shore and summon help.
The LaGrange Fire Department was dispatched to Overlook Park on Knights Place for a report of “kids stuck on an island near the Pop Warner field.” Upon arrival, LaGrange Chief Tim O’Connor called for the activation of the Dutchess County Swiftwater Rescue Team, comprised of career firefighters from the Arlington, LaGrange, and Poughkeepsie Fire Departments. The distance from the field to the staging location in the woods next to the park made it difficult to get manpower and equipment to the bank of the creek. Multiple UTVs were brought in to shuttle light towers at the creekside staging area. As the first responders were staging at the creek, the stranded teens alternated between screaming for help and yelling at the rescue team, accusing them of not doing anything.
While the rescue swimmers developed a safe plan, while waiting for the rescue boat to travel upstream from the launch site, rescue vehicles staging at the field more than 100 yards away began to get stuck in the mud. Multiple ambulances, fire apparatus, and specialty rescue equipment gradually increased at the park as the daylight faded.
As the boat made its way to the scene, the rescue swimmers entered the water to make their way toward the scared teens on the other side. Two had originally indicated that they were injured. The rescue swimmers and boat eventually made their way to the vicinity of the teens as a New York State Police helicopter hovered just above the treetop to provide support. High-powered lighting was set up by staffers of the Dutchess County Emergency Response, illuminating the dark, secluded, and dangerous location.
The first two teens, both males were eventually picked up by the boat crew and crossed the creek, including traversing a few large downed trees that are normally 15 feet away from the water, and brought to waiting EMS personnel. The two boys were quickly blanketed and assisted to the command center in the field. The boat and rescue swimmers then made the risky trip back across the creek and picked up a male and female teen. The same return trip ensued, with the male requiring immediate medical assistance. He was placed in a Stokes stretcher, loaded onto a UTV, stabilized, and rushed to one of the many ambulances. The female was able to walk with her rescuers to an awaiting UTV for her trip to the ambulance.
All of the teens received medical assessments from EMS. The condition of the one male that was stretchered out was not immediately available.
A rescue swimmer from the Poughkeepsie Fire Department suffered a dislocated shoulder while saving the teens. He was triaged by medics at the scene and transported to MidHudson Regional Hospital for further treatment.
An extensive number of police and fire departments participated in the large-scale rescue with a tremendous amount of equipment and manpower at the scene. Additional fire personnel and equipment from surrounding agencies relocated their personnel and apparatus to the Arlington and LaGrange fire stations to provide coverage. As of 10:30 p.m. Monday night, first responders were beginning the arduous task of packing up the extraordinary amount of equipment needed to rescue the kids.
