Hermitage firefighters honored for pulling man from car sinking in lake
HERMITAGE, Pa. (WKBN) – Three Hermitage firefighters are back to work Thursday after a shift last week took a dangerous turn.
Last week, a car plunged into Lake Julie in Buhl Park and the firefighters were recently honored for the dramatic rescue.
Hermitage Fire Chief John Flynn still has the marks on his hands — cuts and scabs.
'I got cut up pretty good from the glass and ended up with an infection,' he said.
Flynn, along with Captain Lawrence Clark and Lt. Adam Prather, were the first on the scene after the car plunged into the lake with the driver still inside.
'He was panicked. He was scared because he had climbed to the front seat, to the back seat. His head and his mouth was breathing that little air pocket that was in there that was going away very quickly. I could see the water rising on his chest,' Flynn said.
The car was 50 feet from the shore in eight to ten feet of water and sinking quickly.
With no wet suit and no time to think, Flynn jumped in and started swimming to the vehicle.
'The hardest part was the water was just so cold,' he said.
Working frantically, Flynn was able to free the man from the vehicle, getting him back to shore before EMTs took him to a Youngstown hospital.
'If that car had fully submerged and he was in there, the chances of him living through that probably weren't very good,' Flynn said.
The three firefighters were honored for their heroism, recognized by the Board of Commissioners and receiving the department's Medal of Honor.
'Just the feeling of saving someone's life, you can't put it into words. It's an amazing thing,' Flynn said.
All for their routine work during an irregular day.
'I do my job and I train hard for these situations, just like everybody else does in the department, just like the other two who jumped in the water. If it hadn't been me, it would've been one of the other two that jumped into the water,' Flynn said.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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