Chief Recalls Rescue of Couple Trapped by Fallen Tree in Vienna, NY
By Vince Gasparini
Source syracuse.com
Vienna, N.Y. - Vienna Fire Chief Ryan Roberts arrived at the campground in the dark in the middle of a violent storm to find a tree had badly crushed a camper.
It was still raining hard, the wind was blowing and lightning was striking everywhere.
Campers told firefighters that two people were trapped under the huge tree that fell on the tow-behind camper at Landing Campground in Vienna in Oneida County at about 4 a.m. Sunday, June 22.
An 86-year-old couple, Patrick and Barbara Evans, were trapped. They had been at the campground alongside groups of friends who were staying on neighboring campsites.
“They were all saying that there were people trapped, that they were talking to them and they could hear them,” the chief said. “But they were unable to get to them.”
The tree had caved in the roof of the trailer, which landed directly on top of the couple who had been in bed, Roberts told syracuse.com | The Post-Standard.
The chief said he immediately requested help from other departments, including Sylvan Beach and North Shore, along with the town of Vienna’s Department of Public Works.
The severe weather that hit the region that night packed peak winds of more than 110 mph and spawned two tornadoes. One tornado killed three people in Clark Mills, about 20 miles away.
“It was still downpouring,” Roberts said. “Lightning was striking all around us.”
The firefighters and other first responders worked to stabilize and cut off sections of the tree. They used an excavator to lift the trunk off the trailer, Roberts said.
“We were pushing that piece of machinery to its limit,” he said.
After removing the tree trunk, they were able to lift the roof off the couple.
The couple was rushed Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse. They arrived in serious condition.
“We were all very, very concerned,” the chief said.
The couple spent 10 days in the hospital; they were released Tuesday to go home.
Roberts said that despite the experience of the rescue crews, no one had ever dealt with an emergency like this.
“It was on the fly, some of it,” he said, adding that the couple’s survival was “nothing short of a miracle.”
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