The Platoon Chief credits three police officers for the dramatic rescue.
By Steve Green and Pat Currie The London Free Press
They are being hailed as heroes, but London police Constables Rick Choja and Mark McGugan say they were just doing their job.
Along with Constable Con McKenzie, they are being lauded for their efforts in helping rescue two seriously injured firefighters whose truck went off the Vauxhall Bridge on Egerton Street on Thursday Morning.
Like clockwork: ” Those young cops saved our guys,” said Platoon Chief Bob Tambling. “I want to write those guys a letter. The ambulance crews dis a heck of a job, too. Sometimes the police, fire and ambulance guys don’t connect worth a toot, but today it was just like clockwork.”
McGugan said later “that’s one we’ll remember for a while. It’s hard to imagine how somebody survived a 25-foot (about eight metre) drop like that and I was amazed to see a firefighter scramble up the riverbank to get us. I didn’t expect to find anyone live.”
Choja said “you think you are ready for everything then something like this happens.”
McCallum, who was pinned in the wreck, and Myatt were perilously close to the river and “two feet (0.6 metres) more into the water would have been enough to say one or both would have drowned,” McGugan said. “You’re thinking ‘what if they had landed the other way? There are so many things about this accident that aren’t normal.:
A fire truck from No.9 firehall crumpled on the bank of the Thames River’s south branch after crashing through guardrails of the Vauxhall Bridge on Egerton Street in southeast London on Thursday morning. Four firefighters were in the truck. The driver, who was pinned inside the wreck which was perilously close to the river, and his front seat passenger were reported in critical condition in London’s Victoria Hospital.
Choja, 34, a 16-year veteran of the force, said the two firefighters who received lesser injuries, John Mulligan and Andre Jongpier, showed tremendous poise.
“They came to be very constructive when it came to helping get the other guys out and getting them ready for transport,” Choja said.
Facing reality: Choja admitted the day’s events hadn’t fully sunk in nine hours later. “Your mind is up and down. You have to face the crying family members, the concerned medical staff. You don’t have time to sit down and think about what happened. I’m just glad I could help.”
Bothe were quick to point out they weren’t the only ones helping out and they resisted any suggestion of heroism.
“Who else is going to respond?” McGugan asked. “We knew going in me might have to do something like this one day and we may have to deal with something worse in the future.”
Source: London Free Press
