KENT, Conn.—Two 14-year-old girls and a 10-year-old boy had a scary experience when they tried to cross a beaver dam off Segar Mountain Road the night of Saturday, July 5, and found themselves in deeper water than they expected.
“We got a call about someone stuck in quicksand,” said Gary Hock, assistant chief of the Kent Volunteer Fire Department. “We got there pretty quick, about 10 minutes. Two members brought their own ATVs and we brought Rescue 8 and our own ATV, but we couldn’t take them into the swamp.”
“We had about a dozen rescuers and five EMTS. We had Warren dispatched as well, but the kids pretty much got themselves out,” he said.
[KVFD Assistant Chief] Wendell Soule was on the scene. and Hock was in the command center.
The children, who were about 500 feet into the swamp, were, in fact, unharmed and all refused any kind of medical intervention.
“Basically, they were going across a beaver dam and [one of the girls] misjudged how deep the water was and went in up to her waist,” Hock reported.
Despite being called out on a holiday weekend, Hock was philosophical.
“We were just glad no one was hurt. We all did these things as kids,” he said, “but now kids all have cell phones. It turned out to be a learning experience and once they got some guidance, they learned how to take care of the situation. It was actually kind of humorous. They did the right thing in calling—that’s what we do.”
