A 95-year-old man and his 93-year-old wife were rescued after being found over a hillside outside their home Tuesday morning in South Franklin Township, Washington County.
One of the township firefighters who helped save Ed and Betty Petrisek told WTAE Channel 4 Action News reporter Amber Nicotra that the couple was cold and wet, dressed in short sleeves, and it's possible that they may have been outside all night during the rainfall that began Monday evening.
"Very frightening, very scary," Capt. Michael Henderson said. "They were cold and wet and looked like they had been out there for a while."
Henderson said the rescue call came in about 10 a.m. after the couple's son visited the house on Alamae Lakes Road and saw his parents over the hill.
One of the Petriseks had fallen, and one went outside to check on the other, and neither one could get back up the hillside, Nicotra reported.
"There was a chair down there that was broken (that) one of them may have been sitting in and fell out of the chair and couldn't get up. The other one came to help," Henderson said. "Don't know which one was down there."
Stokes baskets were used to pull the couple to safety. Henderson said the Petriseks' ages, combined with slick spots on the wet ground, made the rescue effort more risky.
"It took us about 45 minutes to get them back up over the hill and on the boards," he said.
Ed Petrisek didn't say anything, but he sometimes opened his eyes, the firefighter said.
Betty Petrisek kept saying she was cold and asking how she had gotten there, the firefighter said.
The Petriseks were flown to UPMC Presbyterian hospital in Pittsburgh. Ed was in serious condition Tuesday evening, and no news about Betty's condition was available.
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