Season 1, Episode 15: Stay Out of the Water

[00:00:00]today on hearts of Heroes Paradise Valley Arizona is pummeled with a frightening flash flood it almost looked like a river we were driving through on the fire truck forcing a mother and daughter into a perilous situation I was faced with something that I never thought would ever happen to me and that is a river going on I just thought this is it this is my fears I'm gonna drown and later winter weather slams Ohio and a guard dog named Frankie falls into freezing waters I can tell it was frightened I was paddling very fast you know trying to do everything it could to get to me risking their lives to save yours that's our first responders all heart 120 degree temps in the summer spring training the Grand Canyon these are all things that most people would associate with Arizona but flash flooding caused by a tropical storm yeah that's probably not the first thing that comes to your mind but remnants of hurricanes often fuel flash flooding in the desert Southwest that's exactly what happened on October 2nd 2018 in Phoenix when what was left of hurricane rosa created one of the wettest days in recorded history the rain fell so quickly that streets filled with water and many people found themselves in immediate need of help from Arizona's finest Paradise Valley Arizona is a beautiful resort town it's just 15 minutes northeast of Phoenix with world-class golf courses and of course spectacular desert vistas I've lived in Arizona since 1979 when it was just dirt and cactus and now it's a very popular state it seems to be everyone's congregating to Arizona the state is also famous for its weather I always said that the newscasters have like the easiest job because every day it's sunny you know and there's never a cloud in the sky and there's no rain in the forecast that is true for nine months of the year but then a seasonal shift we get monsoons that come through during the summertime and those are very unpredictable a lot of very heavy rainfall high winds lightning and thunder hurricane Rosa which had just ripped through Mexico a week earlier causing more than 50 million dollars in property damage was still alive and still packing a punch now dumping record amounts of rain over Arizona in a very short amount of time even though Rosa at this point had been downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical depression didn't mean the danger was gone so on October 16th 2018 as Terry's daughter Madeline Brinson recalls she wasn't all that concerned with the weather I woke up and I was planning on going to work my mom was in the kitchen making coffee and watching the news she had mentioned flooding and street closures so we decided to leave an hour early so we just took our typical route which is a very busy road and traffic was flowing you know there were a few puddles here and there and the next thing we knew brakes were going cars we're starting to swerve what I saw when we turn the corner to pull up into my work was water flooding and I thought to myself mom just keep going all the other cars are going straight ahead and my mom said I don't think this is a good idea trying to get through it all of a sudden the car literally it was like it just lifted like off the ground and we're floating and I no longer had control water is very powerful water moving at just seven miles an hour has the same force per unit as an f5 tornado it has the ability to move people has the ability to move vehicles as well all of a sudden a huge bus just comes by came this close to hitting our car we're seeing all these other cars now they're bottoming out and they're floating I remember looking over at my mom in the water started rising and rising we just looked at each other and we just started panicking I just thought this is it this is my fears it's I'm gonna drown coming up can Phoenix firefighters save Terri Lynn and her daughter the water was up to the door on that fire truck I was just like guys please come please please but first here's a safety tip that may help you if you come to a flooded Road stop turn around and find a different route to your destination no deadline is worth risking your life over obey barricades and signs that warn of road flooding even if the water looks shallow don't attempt it water comes be much deeper than it appears in hide major road hazards turn around don't drown to be safe always be on the lookout for potential hazards it's the least you can do for you your loved ones and your community safety in October of 2018 Paradise Valley Arizona was walloped with a late season flash flood Terri Lynn daus had been driving her daughter Madeline to work when their car got stuck with a few others and became semi submerged in the rushing waters just north of Shea making matters worse Terri Lynn can't swim we're sitting in the car and the water is all the way up now to my window and we don't know what we're gonna do and I can't swim so I'm thinking this is X I'm gonna drown throughout Paradise Valley officials had already started closing flooded roads but that didn't stop the flood of calls coming in in other parts of the country 911 - the fire department but out here all calls go through the Phoenix Fire Department's Regional dispatch center we're one of the largest non military communication centers in the country we have more than a million telephone calls annually coming into the center we probably had about 20 24 people on duty at the time and all of us were busy taking in phone calls it was all hands on deck as the phrase goes 911 operators are the first responders of the first responders they're a vital part of the chain and they do a fantastic job under a lot of pressure this dispatch center uses advanced computer tracking on all responder vehicles to find the closest possible unit to the current call for Terri Lynn and Madeline the closest unit was kept in check for dealest and his team but even these first responders were shocked by what they saw that day on Tatum Road I've lived here my entire life I'm very familiar with this area and as we made our way closer to the area we saw that there was you know feet of standing and that's nothing that I had ever expected or had seen before it was certainly an anomaly we had to pass over a few roads that hit the town of Paradise Valley had already closed down it was pretty amazing it almost looked like a river we were driving through on a true fire truck it's very important to remember that not only are natural disasters seemingly unpredictable buts or the conditions caused by them just because this specific area has never flooded before doesn't mean it won't its crew should always use caution listen to the news and pay attention to signs and other communications first responders used to warn you of danger because of the flooding engineer Mike Thomas took extra care behind the wheel as they approached the scene after talking with Chad my captain we both agreed that safety is the first concern of ours for not only the people that were trying to help it for ourselves as well right we don't want to put ourselves in harm's way so as we approached the scene and we saw the water we kind of took a step back and we stopped and we looked at the situation we tried to gauge how deep the water was the water was up to the door on that fire truck I was just like guys please come please please we tried to gauge how many vehicles were involved and we want to try to gauge which vehicles didn't want to go through first garv is so sad and scared and all of a sudden no more fear the firefighter grabbed me and took me out and it was like the most bravest magical feeling that I've ever felt in my entire life this hero this angel is rescuing me they just were fearless and like they were on a mission and they came and they did their job and they did it really well it was good pulling up on scene and being able to make a difference these firefighters and their bravery their integrity their heroes to me a hero is somebody who does something who genuinely cares for others to the point that they will sacrifice everything to live out their real reason why they're here which is a bigger and greater version of anything that I would rather be coming up sacrificing one's own safety to save a furry friend from an icy pot I ran and I got my waders and tried to break it with the or and or snap it's not easy keeping youngsters out of trouble as parents we've all been there trying to shield our kids from all the dangers in the world so what happens when that youngster is actually a 100 pound dog sure you could tell it to sit or even stay but stay out of danger it's not always that simple luckily for one family in Ohio when one of their worst fears came true first responders were right there to jump in Norton Ohio is a small town of 12,000 people in the northern part of the state pastoral peaceful Americana we have several large working farms still we have a mix of newer allotments it's just a nice quiet little town well I like it because it's kind of a mix between city and the country house we have our animals and our children I feel like they're pretty lucky that grow up with a hobby farm but then we're also down the street from major shopping area and although the winters are definitely snowy and cold the people are friendly and more I know everybody that lives by us and we all help each other out like actually had to borrow a bale of hay from the lady across the street yesterday Jillian and her husband Sam a firefighter in nearby Akron are not only raising three young children but dozens of animals on their farm which includes a small pond that the Ducks like to use when the weather permits the latest addition to their family farm is a young dog named Frankie that's short for Francine the kids love Frankie she's a big teddy bear I think she thinks she's a sibling more than she's a dog so sometimes I'll get her in the car for school drop-off and she cries when they get out of the car and run up the steps she's getting too big for the back of my car so I don't know how long we'll be able to keep doing that but fun-loving Frankie is much more than a pet or a furry sibling she's also a valuable worker we got her for the purpose of protecting our farm our livestock we have a lot of predators coyotes raccoons possum and we were losing ducks and chickens but they're great pyrenees pup was a perfect solution Frankie was the farms protector till one winter day when she became the one who needed help my husband was at work and I dropped the kids off at school and came home I usually do all my barn chores in the morning the pond was just kind of covered with snow so when I let Frankie out to let her run around she ran across the pond but I didn't know it until you know I was calling for and she wasn't coming so then I looked over at the pond after wandering on to the partially frozen pond Frankie crashed through the surface and was struggling the first thing that went through my mind was I was gonna get her out I called everyone I could think up I text my neighbor Julie and asked her to bring her kayak down she came right away we tried crushing the ice with the weight of the kayak to try and move it through the water and tried to break it with the oar and the or snap with Frankie trying to stay above the surface of the icy water Gillian realized she needed help we called 9-1-1 for them to come out and help us because we knew we weren't gonna be able to get out there Gillian did the right thing because Frankie needed help fast when someone or something is in danger always called the professionals they're trained for these types of rescues with the the weather that day in the water temperature you know the dog had very limited time to survive in that water so it was crucial that we got there as fast as we possibly could coming up with the clock ticking and Frankie struggling in freezing water can the Norton Fire Department get Frankie was hanging on a chunk ice look very tired about ready to give up and scared but first here's a safety tip that may help you although we might think a frozen lake Oh pine can support our weight ice that's less than three inches thick should be avoided at all cost if anyone or anything in your party falls through the ice your first reaction should it be remain calm and call nine with one hit those who are trained to handle rest he's there before putting yourself and others in great danger by knowing your winter safety protocol everyone and everything would be thankful that you did on a snowy freezing day in Norton Ohio Jillian Olson had summoned the fire department because her dog Frankie was in danger she was in the middle of pond just staring at me so I was pretty it's pretty sad sad look on her face knowing that a water rescue would require wearing special gear the officer in charge or oh I see quickly delegated the risk assignment to firefighter Dwayne Marty the OIC kind of chose me to rescue the dog save the dog from the frigid temperatures and water so in route got ready time is everything the faster we can get ready the faster we can help somebody despite the rough conditions Jillian was still out there trying to get her family's pet when the fire department arrives my first concern was that the homeowner was on the ice in a canoe trying to get to the dog so I immediately went to her tried to assure her that we would take care of the situation I was still like a third of the way out on the pond so chief Schultz came up and said you need to come back because we don't want to rescue you - in our enthusiasm and desire to rescue our loved ones whether human or animal we sometimes throw caution to the wind Jillian was at risk in an unstable kayak with heavy winter clothes on and she did the right thing to get out of the water when the chief asked her to and we just got there obviously Frankie was hanging on a chunk ice looked very tired about ready to give up and scared my first doubts when I saw the dog was how was the dog gonna react you know I I don't know the dog myself and assistant chief cope intended the rope and Dwayne entered the water katella's very tired it's kind of add to end the it's fight whenever arrest is on ice it is impossible to tell how much weight that ice can sustain for officer Marty a key safety technique was distributing his weight evenly over the unstable surface of the ice the closer Dewayne gets to the dog the more she paddles trying to swim towards him like she knew he was there to help her out I can tell it was frightened and was paddling very fast you know trying to do everything it could to get to me so I kind of went around the dog and bear hugged him up and they started pulling us and walking out less than a half an hour after realizing her dog had plunged into the pond Gillian could finally breathe a sigh of relief when he got Frankie to the edge of the pond I was really thankful I think they said if she had been in there much longer her core temperature was going to be too low so they said that it could have been potentially fatal a couple other firefighters actually picked the dog up and carried him to the back of one of our ambulances so we could get him warm wrapped him in blankets amazingly enough within about 20 minutes we opened the back door and she jumped out and was running around and playing with all the firemen they didn't face her she was ready to play for a protective mother the whole incident was a perfect reminder of how important it is for her kids to be safe around the pot I had just told them the week before that how dangerous it is if you go in that water you could never go back there without you know your mom or dad and now Frankie is safer too thanks to this new life jacket months after that emotional day Frankie and her family of humans took some donuts to the Norton fire department hi it's good to see you to give thanks one more time Jill was very very thankful and very emotional she was having a difficult time watching her poor dog struggle in the water you know they went above and beyond they got her out and you know they could have left but they made sure she was warm she made sure I was okay one broken kayak paddle and one 9-1-1 call later Frankie is happy and healthy and everyone on the Olson family farm is forever grateful firefighters helped save her go from a family in Arizona to the Olsons of Norton Ohio and from all of us thank you to all of our courageous heroes it's times like these when we're even more grateful for your service thanks so much for watching I'm ginger Zee and we'll see you next time you