9-year-old girl rescued from well
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The girl, Carla Patricia Contreras. was taken to River Park Hospital for precautionary reasons but suffered no major injuries. She is the daughter of Martina and Jesus Contreras and the family had just moved to the residence on Knight Road near Centertown two weeks before the accident. They were not aware there was a well in the backyard. The concrete well was covered by a single piece of rotting plywood.
The young victim said she was walking through the yard when she stepped on the board and immediately went tumbling about 30 feet into the well below. She was able to cling to the side of the well until rescue workers with the ambulance service, sheriff’s department and Centertown Volunteer Fire Department arrived.
“When I fell in I went under the water and then came back up and held myself up by the walls. I couldn’t touch the bottom, it was too deep,” Contreras said. “I wasn’t scared because I had hold of the walls.”
Contreras’ sister saw her older sibling fall into the well and told her parents.
“I heard my husband yelling that Carla had fallen into a well. I didn’t know there was a well,” Mrs. Contreras said. “I ran out and could see her down there, holding to both sides of the wall. She was talking so calmly. I wasn’t really scared until afterwards, when I realized what could have happened.”
Paramedic Kenny Moffitt was lowered into the well using top-notch rappelling equipment purchased with grant money recently awarded to the county. Ironically, ambulance service employees had just completed a high-angle rescue course designed specifically for such situations.
“I’m just glad we had the right equipment,” said Moffitt, who said he didn’t hesitate going down into the well. “My first concern was making sure she wasn’t hurt. When I got down there, the water was cold. I’d say it couldn’t have been much warmer than 40 degrees.”
After Moffitt secured the girl, the two were pulled to safety by eight to 10 rescue workers up above.
“We pulled them up using sheer manpower,” said Emergency Management Agency director Phillip Prater. “With the situation we had, and the number of people here, that was the best way to do it.”
Prater also said the recently completed high-angle rescue course played a key role in pulling the girl to safety. He indicated about a half dozen ambulance service employees completed the course, which will be especially useful during rescues at Fall Creek Falls or Rock Island.
“We didn’t have to haphazardly rescue her,” said Prater. “We could do it safely and with the proper equipment.”
The accident took place on Knight Road, a lightly traveled road that connects Short Mountain and Brown Prater roads in the Centertown community. The call was dispatched by 911 at 11:37 a.m. Sunday with the first rescue workers arriving on the scene about seven minutes later.
In light of the rescue, Mrs. Contreras said she wants to thank everyone involved in the rescue, and especially Moffitt who crawled into the well.
“We are really thankful for the people who got her out of there,” Mrs. Contreras said. “I would like to see the man who went in there to get her out again so I can thank him.”
Carla is a fourth-grader at Cedars of Lebanon Academy.