Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) firefighters have helped save three children from drowning in the Hunter River at Denman, in the state's Hunter Valley.
In a multi-agency rescue operation also involving NSW Police, NSW Ambulance, the State Emergency Service and the Rural Fire Service, the FRNSW crew from Denman was alerted that the children were in difficulty in the river, just before midday.
Rescue teams immediately located and secured two of the children, on a log in the river. The third, a 15-year-old girl, was trapped by her foot in timber debris around 300-metres downstream. She was pinned underwater, struggling to breathe.
Extrication plan
The emergency teams quickly formed an extrication plan and a firefighter entered the river to reach the distressed teen. The firefighter untangled her from the debris and pulled her up as a second FRNSW rescuer fitted her with a floatation harness.
An SES In-water rescue team was then brought in to carry the children to the safety of the riverbank. The teenager was then taken to hospital for a medical assessment. FRNSW Captain Amon Burkill said, "The teen was in imminent danger of drowning, her face was bobbing in and out of the water."
"If not for the quick actions of those firefighters entering the river, I'm in no doubt it would have ended tragically," Captain Burkill said.