UPSON EMA ASSISTS TALBOT CO. ON RIVER RESCUE

THOMASTON, GA, July 24, 2019― Upson EMA was notified just before 11 PM Sunday night, July 21, 2019, of an overdue person who had been floating the Flint on Sunday afternoon. Talbot County EMA Director Leighann Erinheim contacted Upson County EMA Director Martha Anne McCarty directly via cell and requested mutual aid from Upson’s Rescue Unit.
Cooperative support is a hallmark of Upson EMA’s Rescue Unit. With top-of-the-line equipment and members trained to a high standard of excellence in water operations, Upson EMA gladly assists neighboring counties and communities in their time of need through mutual aid response.
Members of Upson Rescue’s Water Operations Team supplemented by members of the Thurston Volunteer Fire Department assisted in the operation. The following details are from Director Erinheim’s account of the incident, published in the Talbotton New Era newspaper.
At 10:14pm on July 21st the dispatch center for Talbot County was notified of a 38 year old female missing on the Flint River. At that time she had been missing about 45 minutes to an hour. Talbot Sheriff's Office Deputy Riggins Talbot 9 was advised and sent to the Flint River Outdoor center to make contact with the people she had been floating the river with. EMA met with SO at that site and found that they had started their float at 1:00 on the 21st and noticed she had not made it to the center at around 9:00- 9:30. They waited to see if she floated on down but never arrived, so they then decided to call 911 for assistance to locate.
Talbot County Emergency Management Director Leigh Ann Erenheim responded and once on scene was advised the last known location was in the Double Bridges Table rock area of the river. Talbot EMA had units from Flint Hill Fire Department, O'Neal Fire Department and Junction City Fire Department to assist with searching the Double Bridges Road and River Road for possible areas the woman may have gotten out of the river. Upson County EMA and Rescue and Thurston Fire Department responded with UTV's and their Zodiac and raft to assist in needed to extract the woman from the water if she was unable to move to the bank herself. The Spalding County Sheriff's Department Helicopter was requested to be in route to help with locating the woman with lights and Flir. Once the assisting units in the canoe was able to locate the person and assist her to the bank the helicopter was cancelled.
The Fire units on the Double Bridges Road area were able to see a cell phone light on the Table Rock area in the middle of the river. They were able to direct a person in a canoe to the area of site and were able to locate the victim at 1:15. She was then assisted to the bank of the river on the River Road area and carried out by Fire units located at the River Road site. The woman was brought out to Talbot County EMS for evaluation at 1:45 am. The woman was released to her family and all units cleared the scene at 2:15 am on July 22.
Units and agencies involved were approximately 20 people from multiple agencies listed below:
Talbot County Emergency Management Agency
Talbot County Sheriff's Department
Talbotton Police Department
Talbot County EMS
Flint Hill Fire Department
O'Neal Fire Department
Junction City Fire Department
Upson County Emergency Management Agency Search and Rescue Unit
Thurston Fire Department
Georgia State Patrol

Leigh Ann Erenheim
Director: Talbot County EMA/Fire/E911


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