Ind. Hometown Heroes Honored by Red Cross
June 26--Kevin Sater had just arrived home on April 22 after finishing a 24-hour work shift, looking forward to some well-deserved shut-eye at home, when he got a call at 7 a.m.
It was the Reelsville Fire Department, wanting to know if he could help rescue residents of a small neighborhood just outside the Putnam County town, stranded in their homes by flood waters from Big Walnut Creek.
Sater, an EMT with the Owen County rescue team and Owen County Emergency Services -- along with another member of the rescue team, Cris Lunsford -- arrived at the Reelsville Fire Department at 9:30 a.m. Minutes later they were each in a rescue boat, accompanied by a member of the Greencastle Fire Department.
"There were raging rapids going over the tops of cars, and some of the houses were already submerged," said Sater, who's certified in swift water rescue and rope rescue by the Indiana Department of Homeland Security. "We were hitting cars and street signs -- even a freezer -- that were floating by."
Sater and his partner, who were in the smaller of the two boats, first came upon a couple in their 80s, whom they found on the second level of their home.
"Their phones were out, so they were sitting down at a computer emailing someone to call for help," he said. "When they saw us they wanted to pack, but we told them we'd help them grab a few things, but then we had to go."
After helping the octogenarians into the boat, they found their two Labrador retrievers on the first floor, floating on a dislodged door, barking and looking terrified.
"The first floor was pretty bad," Sater said. "The water was up to your neck. But when we tossed the dogs into the boat their tails started wagging."
A few minutes after rescuing the dogs, Sater and his partner walked through the front door of a home and found a woman in her late 60s, standing on the main level with a bag of clothes slung over her shoulder. The flood waters were just beginning to creep into her home.
"You need a ride?" Sater asked.
"Oh God yes!" the woman answered.
After loading the woman into the boat, they found another dog alone in a home and put him in the boat as well.
All the humans and canines were loaded into the larger rescue boat, which took them to shore, where American Red Cross cared for them before transporting them to the Reelsville Fire Department to be picked up by loved ones.
By 3 p.m. Sater was home, having gone without sleep for nearly two days. He played "Frisbee catch" with his three hyperkinetic search and rescue dogs for 15 minutes, then went to bed and fell asleep in a millisecond. For the next several hours, nothing short of an earthquake could have roused him from his slumber.
Sater was one of two people honored as Hometown Heroes Tuesday night at the annual membership meeting of the Monroe County Chapter of the American Red Cross at the new KRC Banquets and Catering facility in Ellettsville.
The heroes were honored for their extraordinary efforts that helped save lives in the area during the past year.
Weldon a hero, too
The other hero honored was Indiana National Guard specialist Chad Weldon, who in July of 2012 was driving his Affinity home from Camp Atterbury, going southbound on Interstate 65, when he saw a semi-truck strike an SUV in the northbound lane, causing the SUV to go airborne and roll over two times before settling in the grass.
Weldon, a father of two young children, felt his heart skip a beat when he saw several children fly out the windows onto the ground. He turned into the median, parked his car, and ran to the overturned SUV. There, he was met by two other soldiers, also returning from Camp Atterbury, who had also rushed to the scene.
Weldon, who had extensive military training in emergency lifesaving procedures, found a 12-year-old boy inside the SUV, blood gushing from a head wound and with deep lacerations on his chest and hands.
"He wasn't scared; he was mad," Weldon. "He was angry that he was going to miss his baseball game."
Weldon and a National Guard master sergeant pulled the boy out of the vehicle to safety alongside the road, and checked his vitals. Using a tourniquet and pads from a passer-by's medical kit, they were able to stem the bleeding.
"We kept talking to him to keep his mind off his condition for about 15 minutes until the ambulance arrived," Weldon said. "He was a real trouper."
------
Other Red Cross honors
Volunteer of the Year Award: Joann Dodd
Pat Kingsbury Service Above Self Award: Jeremiah Young
Copyright 2013 - Herald-Times, Bloomington, Ind.
