HAZEL GREEN, Ky. (LEX 18) — The floodwaters may have receded, but the memories of what happened Sunday night still remain.
A crew of volunteer firefighters with the Hazel Green Fire Department was out responding to storm damage when Eddie Stacy saw something peculiar.
"When I come around the curve, I could see a light from a cell phone just flashing on and off and it just caught my eye," volunteer firefighter Eddie Stacy said.
That light was coming from a car trapped in floodwaters from the Red River. Inside, there was a family of five. They were screaming for help.
"It was going through my mind: hurry up, hurry up, hurry up," Stacy recounted.
Using a rope, he said he and three other volunteer firefighters got the first four people out, including a pregnant woman and a toddler. The fifth person in the car was having a seizure.
"She finally kind of limbered up a little bit to where she could get out the car window," Stacy remembered.
Then, Stacy said Sheriff Chris Carson with the Wolfe County Sheriff's Department carried her to safety in his tractor. He lives just up the road, so he was able to get there quickly. According to Stacy, the family was taken to the fire station to warm up and be assessed by EMTs.
"Everybody was safe, everything went perfect," Stacy said. "It couldn't have ended no better."
The crew even bought the family a new car seat after theirs was destroyed by floodwaters.
It was wonderful to see little Brantley, and his mom and grandma from last night. Members from the fire dept got little...
Posted by Eddie Nicky Stacy on Monday, March 1, 2021
In total, Stacy said the crew rescued 16 people over the course of Sunday and Monday.
Stacy asks that drivers remember: "turn around, don't drown". Drivers are encouraged to find another route if they ever come across a road with water on it, even if it appears shallow.
