TERRELL, Texas — The Terrell Volunteer Fire Department answered the call for an overturned truck on State Highway 64 on Saturday which had partially submerged under water — trapping the vehicle’s occupants including an infant and a child.
TERRELL, Texas — The Terrell Volunteer Fire Department answered the call for an overturned truck on State Highway 64 on Saturday which had partially submerged under water — trapping the vehicle’s occupants including an infant and a child.
The department was headed to Canton, Texas, on Saturday as mutual aid in response to a number of tornadoes which caused significant damage, injured more than 50 people, and claimed the lives of at least four others.
They hadn’t reached their destination in Canton when they overheard the call on State Highway 64 just north of Interstate 20 in the Myrtle Springs area.
Phillip Ocheltree, his wife, Emily, and their two children, 18-month-old daughter Addyson and four-month-old son Marshal, had left their home after the first rounds of storms passed through the Canton area in search of better shelter when their truck hydroplaned and overturned into the water, the family reported on Facebook.
In a video, since gone viral with over 18 million views on Facebook, bystanders are seen fighting against a rushing current to open the doors of the overturned and partially submerged truck.
After several minutes, bystanders were able to rescue the infant and child from the truck and begin CPR — one of those bystanders a former firefighter from Guatemala, Jaime Martinez, according to WFAA.
Just before the video cuts, Terrell Volunteer Fire Department Assistant Chief Terry Van Sickle Jr. could be heard calling for oxygen and supplies from other members of the Terrell Volunteer Fire Department as they arrived on scene.
The Terrell Volunteer Fire Department had just pulled off Interstate 20 at mile marker 521, one exit west of SH 64, to wait for a second reported tornado to exit the area before proceeding to an incident command post in Canton when they received the call.
Van Sickle Jr. says, in an interview with inForney.com, both children were out of the vehicle when they arrived on scene. Marshal was responsive but Addyson needed additional first aid and CPR.
Off-duty Flight for Life personnel also happened upon the scene and provided assistance, according to Van Sickle Jr.
Van Sickle Jr. says the incident serves as an example for everyone to be prepared and to seek CPR, first aid, and AED training.
“These people didn’t think they would be saving a these kids lives that day,” he said. “Preparedness is important.”
In an update on Monday, the family says Marshal is in excellent condition and Addyson is now breathing on her own.
“I can't thank you all enough, who came into the water and saved my children, you’re a blessing thank you all so much,” Ocheltree stated on Facebook.
“Van Sickle Jr. and his rescue crew did one the most outstanding jobs during a disaster I’ve ever seen,” Kaufman County Office of Emergency Management Coordinator Steve Howie, a 32-year Dallas firefighter veteran, told inForney.com. Howie arrived on scene moments after the Terrell Volunteer Fire Department.
A YouCaring fund has been established to raise funds for the family, here.
The Terrell Volunteer Fire Department, four members at the crash and another four already in Canton, joined the Kaufman County Office of Emergency Management and firefighters and emergency personnel from other Kaufman County-area departments in overnight search and rescues as well as continued search efforts on Sunday.
Scroll below for video of the rescue and more from WFAA. WARNING: GRAPHIC VIDEO.
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