Two electrical line workers used a bucket truck designed and built by Birmingham-based Altec to rescue a woman from her car as it was surrounded by floodwaters.
As first reported by WCYB, the two men are Cody Byrant and Rick Courtner. They work for Mountain Electric Cooperative, and the rescue happened in rural northeast Tennessee.
A mudslide from a roadside hill pushed the woman’s car into the onrushing floodwater. A separate woman, Molly Ingle, was working nearby and radioed for help.
However, Ingle was not able to get a signal through to 911, so the people who heard the call for help were Byrant and Courtner.
“I was pushing it as hard as I could go,” Bryant told WCYB about his efforts to get his truck to the scene.
After their arrival, the two men equipped themselves with the necessary equipment and got in their truck’s bucket. They maneuvered the mechanical arm holding the bucket in front of the driver’s window so they could pull her from the vehicle. It barely reached, but they were able to rescue her.
In a local television interview, both men remained humble.
“[A]s far as the mindset in us doing it, it’s something we do every day,” said Rick Courtner.
“Exemplary linemen and exemplary human beings. Special thanks to Cody & Rick with Mountain Electric Cooperative for going above and beyond to rescue a person in need,” tweeted Altec CEO Lee Styslinger III of Birmingham.
Henry Thornton is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him by email: [email protected] or on Twitter @HenryThornton95.
Don’t miss out! Subscribe today to have Alabama’s leading headlines delivered to your inbox.