Rescuers pulled three young people safely and unharmed from a rising Tuckaseigee River last Tuesday, Oct. 11, when a drone piloted by a member of the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office led rescuers to them. A call came in at about 8 p.m. about the kids – a 16-year-old male, and 13 and 10-year-old females – stuck in the river behind the house at 3434 Canada Road southeast of Tuckasegee.
“They were playing in the water in the spillway between Bear Creek Lake and Cedar Cliff Lake,” Jackson County Fire Marshal Michael Forbis said. “Duke Energy was releasing water and the water came up too quickly and trapped them.”
Emergency Services Director Todd Dillard contacted Duke officials, who remotely shut down the Bear Creek dam, lowering the water level, Forbis said.
“The last we heard there was one stranded on a rock and the father could not communicate with or find the other two,” Forbis said. “We thought we were going into kind of a recovery situation, with two people missing and one OK.”
One child was directly behind the house while two had been swept downstream.
At one point, authorities inquired about a helicopter with a thermal detection system and floodlights.
Detective Daniel Peoples of the Sheriff’s Office and his drone made that flight unnecessary.
“I launched the drone from the driveway next to my vehicle as soon as I arrived on scene,” Peoples said. “From there I was able to locate everyone reportedly still in the water. I relayed to the rescuers what I was able to see from above about the locations and conditions, like on top of a rock, or hiking into a tree in the water.
The drone can be a comfort to people in distress.
“Everyone near the water was well aware that the drone was present, as it has a spotlight and it also has a speaker that allowed me to speak to them, to reassure them that help was coming,” Peoples said. “At one point one of the individuals in the water actually pointed to the drone to show it to others, waved at it and displayed a thumbs up to it.
“This was incredibly reassuring to me, as I was able to see that no one was in immediate need of medical attention long before rescuers were able to get to them.”
The drone is equipped with FLIR, Forward Looking InfraRed, a detection method that uses infrared radiation typically emitted from a heat source, including humans.
Rescuers located the 16-year-old male first.
“The two younger girls were actually downstream far enough that we could not see them once we found the boy,” Jackson County Rescue Squad Chief Cody Brown said. “Cullowhee (Fire Department) has some swiftwater techs, too, so we used a technique we call ‘go fish.’ Basically we tied a rope to the swiftwater techs and they went out and waded into the water and got the patients. Then as a team we walked them back together after Duke shut the dam down so the water would not be rushing so hard. It was a team effort.”
Everyone was out of the water shortly after 9 p.m.
The situation called for a unified command, established by Cullowhee Fire Department Assistant Chief Chet Stephens and Brown.
The Canada Fire Department and Harris EMS were also on scene.
The children suffered no injuries. “They gave EMS three refusals, so they refused treatment or transport,” Forbis said. “It turned out much better than anticipated.”
