NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – FDNY Rescue 1 firefighters practicing water rescues in Central Park Saturday afternoon put their skills to the test after a man spotted in the middle of the lake fell through the ice and disappeared into the water.
“Starts flailing, moving his hands, the ice is breaking around him pretty much almost like a training video,” FDNY Lt. Billy Ryan told reporters, including 1010 WINS’ Gary Baumgarten.
Prior to falling into the water, firefighters had told the man to get off the ice because it was too thin.
Firefighters used ropes to tether themselves, crawled across the ice to the man and pulled him out. The whole rescue is said to have taken less than two minutes.
“It’s funny because we were drilling on that very thing and it happened right in front of us. And a lot of times for us it’s finding that exact location and we had eyes on him on from the get-go,” Ryan said.
The man was said to be a bit incoherent but otherwise fine. Investigators say he may have been drinking.
Normally, the response time to for that location would have been 10 minutes, and by then, Ryan says the outcome could have been much different.
Curt Isakson is a 35 year veteran of the fire service. Curt is currently a Battalion Chief for Escambia County Fire Rescue. Previously worked 9 years with the Pensacola Fire Department where he was assigned as the Company Officer on Rescue 31. Curt’s fire service experiences started at a young age as a Junior firefighter with the Midway Fire Protection District and rose through the ranks to Captain. He has worked in volunteer, career, and combination departments.
Curt has held all ranks up to Battalion Chief and been assigned to operations, training, inspections, and was Chief of Special Operations for 7 years. Curt owns and operates County Fire Tactics that covers a very diverse range of fire service topics, as well as Firefighter Rescues, a site that documents rescues made by firefighters around the country.
He has annual contracts with numerous departments to provide standardized monthly training for these departments that respond daily together under an automatic aid agreement. Curt teaches nationally to include; FDIC, Firehouse Expo, Firehouse World, Orlando Fire Conference, Atlanta Fire Conference, Bowling Green State University, and owns/operates the annual HROC, COBC, WOTF, CFT ODP on Pensacola Beach. He is a Florida Certified Fire Officer, Instructor, Inspector, Arson, and FLUSAR.
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