"News"

The Daily Times, following in the fine footsteps of 6ABC, proves that news doesn't necessarily have to be accurate in order for it to be sensational:

(My notes are in italics.)

ASTON -- The men who pulled a young boy from a precarious quarry ledge Sunday had practiced the routine many times. In fact, they had trained in the quarry off Knowlton Road where the 13-year-old had fallen. The boy, who fell some 75 feet onto a rock surface, is recovering with a few broken ribs and a punctured lung.

Every time this story gets updated, the fall gets higher. It was maybe a 20 foot straight dropoff and then another 30-40 drop at an 80 degree grade down to the ledge.

"It’s amazing he’s alive," said Dave Durbano, one of several Green Ridge Fire Company volunteers who rushed to the boy’s aid.

Durbano, Mike Evans, Ken Dawson Jr. and Mike Porter worked together to lower the boy to safety. Porter, who is certified to teach rope-rescue techniques, was fitted with a harness and lowered to the ledge as the rest of the men secured a main anchor and belay line.

"It’s all teamwork, that’s all it is," Durbano said.

Gary Plotts, an EMT with the fire company, was the first to arrive on the ledge, having been given a boost by the company’s ladder truck. Plotts said the boy was surprisingly calm and alert.

He was first on the ledge because he insisted that he go first to "make sure it's safe" for us to get off of the ladder. Because he was clearly more well versed in dirt quality than the rest of us.

"He was doing very well," Plotts said.

Plotts saw the boy’s cell phone had landed nearby. He later used it to allow the boy to speak with his mother, who witnessed the rescue from the quarry floor.

The boy said "hi mom" to his mother into my Nextel while my supervisor held his Nextel up for the mother to hear. The boy had a Nextel too, but it had just fallen off that same 17,000 foot high cliff and landed on a rock.

His mother no doubt drew a sharp breath when Porter, who was descending with the boy strapped into a carrier basket, slipped on the loose gravel of the quarry wall. The basket swung and Porter flipped upside down before righting himself.

He didn't even come close to flipping upside down. The basket went to maybe a 45 degree angle, but that's about it. That's clearly evident on the video.

The safety lines, however, did their job. In rescues attempts like this, problems are predicted and countered before they happen, otherwise people die.

"We weren’t going to drop him," Evans said, serious all of a sudden. "It’s all in the rigging."

The men shrugged off the day’s events. It’s something they were trained to do, and they weren’t surprised that everything went according to plan. Still, they are quick to smile and one can’t help feel the men are proud to have been part of saving a life, especially one that survived a fall that probably would have killed anyone else.

They shrugged off the day's events.... right after they gave the interview to the newspaper, made sure their names were spelled right and posed for a group picture.

The fire company’s captain, Sean Joyce, was also in good spirits as the rescuers recounted their efforts at the firehouse Monday night. One of the things Joyce remembers about Sunday’s ordeal was what another company EMT, Sarah Distachio, was doing when the emergency crews first arrived.

"She was trying to reassure the boy and she thought singing would help," Joyce said, laughing.

A few bars of "Mary had a little lamb," had the kid smiling, according to Joyce, who was standing with Distachio at the top of the cliff. When another volunteer grew queasy from the 125-foot vertical drop, Joyce offered a different diagnosis.

"I said he was nauseous because of the singing."

Again, the 125 foor vertical drop? Not hardly. Besides that, I don't know if the Mary had a little lamb thing is true or not, but I find it hilarious either way. There's nothing a 13 year old boy finds cooler than people singing childrens songs to them. He probably was probably laughing at her, not smiling because he was comforted.

The rescuers trained in the quarry, not far from where the boy fell. But they also had to participate in an eight-day training course at Ralph Stover State Park, where mock rescues are practiced on 250-foot cliffs.

It’s because of the training, which is "drilled into your head," according to the men, that when the real thing happens and someone’s life is in their hands, they can focus on the task at hand and do what needs to be done.

"You train for the worst and you go for the best," Plotts said.

God bless us, every one!

©DelcoTimes 2006