What to Know
- A 13-year-old boy was rescued from the middle of a raging creek in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania.
- The boy had been playing with friends in the water when he became trapped on an outcropping of branches and rocks.
- Crews with the Kimberton Fire Company placed a raft in the water. The boy jumped in and was pulled to safety after a few attempts.
A boy is safely back on dry land Monday evening after being stranded in the middle of a raging Chester County, Pennsylvania, creek.
The 13-year-old boy was playing with two friends in the Pickering Creek near Pickering Dam Road in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, Monday afternoon. Suddenly the boy was swept a few hundred feet by raging high water, officials said.
The boy managed to grab onto a tree root and pulled himself up onto an outcropping of branches and rocks in the middle of the creek. His two other friends got out on their own.
Angry waters tinged with brown sediment raged around the makeshift shelter as responding crews from the Kimberton Fire Company staged a rescue effort. (You can watch video of the harrowing rescue above.)
Using a blue raft, crews tried several times to safely take the boy to shore, but the waters proved to be too treacherous. They instead sent the empty raft over to the boy who, donning a life vest, was forced to take a leap of faith into the bobbing raft.
Luckily, he landed square in the center of the rectangular life boat and was safely pulled ashore.
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"We were able to get some ropes to him," Tyler Frees, of the Friendship Diving Rescue Unit, said. "He was very cooperative and helpful and kept catching ropes and tying knots. We were walking him through. Otherwise, not sure what we would've done."
Medics checked on the boy at the scene and he went home with his family.
"He was scared," Doug Gable, of the Kimberton Fire Department, said. "He knows he made a mistake. He was out clowning around on the water and learned a hard lesson."
An official with the Kimberton Fire Company told NBC10 it was the third rescue made in the area Monday. Powerful storms swept through the area, causing flooding throughout the region.
