Verno Huggins owes his life to a volunteer firefighter who happened to be hauling his boat home from the river at just the right time.
At 11:41 a.m. Wednesday, Jerry Wise was returning from a morning on the Broad River when his pager went off. Two men were stuck in a septic tank shaft just a half-mile away in western Lexington County.
Wise was at the scene a minute later. Jumping from his truck, he put on his gloves, grabbed his mooring rope from his boat and sprinted to the 2-foot wide hole.
He found Huggins stuck on a ladder about halfway down a 6-foot shaft, groaning and struggling to breathe.
Wise said he lay on the ground and stuck his arms and head into the hole. He grabbed Huggins sleeve just as the 58-year-old lost his grip on the ladder.
With his free hand, Wise said, he wrapped the rope around Huggins chest. He was able to hoist him up so he could get a little bit fresher air.
Paramedics arrived minutes later. Wise, emergency medical technicians Ron Williams and Kevin Hartley and firefighter Nolan Wessinger pulled Huggins from the hole.
I noticed there was a very, very weak and faint heartbeat, Wise said. I was hollering at him the whole time, Sir, sir stay with us. ... We were determined he was going to live.
Wise, who has some medical technician training, and the paramedics performed chest compressions on Huggins to restart his heart. Huggins was taken by ambulance to Lexington Medical Center.
A volunteer for three years at the Hollow Creek Fire Station, Wise credited his role in the rescue to being at the right place at the right time and having a rope in his boat.
Wise said he normally doesnt carry a rope with him on emergency calls.
If I had not had my boat, this all would have never happened.
Williams and other rescuers agreed that they couldnt have pulled Huggins out of the shaft without Wises rope.
Wise works from his Lake Murray home. He owns a business that designs software for the American College of Cardiology and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons.
But Wednesday, he decided to take the morning off and enjoy some time on the river.
A TEAM OF HEROES
Wise was one of several emergency personnel who worked to extract and revive Huggins and who tried to save 29-year-old Duane Howell. Among them:
Lexington County dispatcher Cari Lane Moynihan, who was keeping the 911 caller calm while simultaneously sending workers to the scene.
Williams and Hartley were on the road in less than a minute and needed only 18 minutes at the scene before they were ready to transport Huggins to Lexington Medical Center.
Firefighters Christopher Porter and Nolan Wessinger set up command posts.
Lexington County Operations Chief David Fulmer measured oxygen and gas levels inside the septic tank.
EMS shift supervisor Stuart Platt helped revive Huggins and set up an EMS command center.
Wise said volunteers can often get to the scene first and give just enough aid to save a life.
We can put the finger in the dike. Its just a building of resources and skills when something like this happens.
As moments go by, the (people with) higher and higher skill levels are constantly arriving.
But time is life.
Reach Beam at (803) 771-8405.
Distributed by the Associated Press
