Swamp and water rescue in Harrison County

A 77-year-old Harrison County man is safe tonight after surviving a life and death situation in the swamp.

A walk to a nearby store doesn’t seem to be risky, but it turned into a dangerous, life-threatening situation for one Harrison County resident Friday afternoon as he decided to take a short cut through the woods, just off Finley Cemetery Road, on his way back home. Pat Sullivan with Harrison County Fire Services said, “The more that he tried to walk or get out of the swamp, the deeper he got into it. He realized he was in trouble.”

The 77-year-old man was taking a short cut through the area, trying to get home after buying groceries. He did have a device on him that may have meant the difference between life or death: a cell phone. “We can track their phone. There are a lot of things we can do now. The technology has advanced and it helps us find them much quicker than it did in the past,” said Sullivan.

Sullivan says the man called 911 about an hour after losing his bearings and fighting his way through the swamp. Crews with the Harrison County Fire Service and Harrison County Sheriff’s Department rushed to the scene. Within about 20 minutes, fire fighters located the man and carried him out of the swamp to safety. He was treated at the scene by AMR, but did not want to go to the hospital.

It was a close brush, but he escaped without injury. “Quicksand type of environment if you will, one of the things you’re taught is that if you can get down and start crawling out, it may help, but in this case it didn’t help,” said Sullivan.

The man did catch a ride home from the scene though, saying he couldn’t wait to get a long shower.