WILMETTE, Ill. (STMW) — A north suburban woman was lucky that a seaman at the U.S. Coast Guard Station in Wilmette wanted some fresh air early Sunday morning.
Seaman Reginald Edwards cracked his window open about 1 a.m. before going to sleep when he heard someone screaming for help, Petty Officer Chris Summers told Pioneer Press.
Edwards woke the other sailors on duty and called 911.
Petty Officer Kevin Ray and Summers ran outside and kept calling to the person so they could locate her by the sound of her cries.
“We kept yelling out to her,” Summers said.
They did not see her until they were near the edge of the water in the Lake Michigan harbor.
“She was holding on to a tire chained to a concrete wall,” Summers said.
The 21-year-old woman’s shoulders and head were above the water, but because the wall was a vertical drop of about 5 feet, she could not climb out.
By laying down he was able to reach the woman’s hand, while Ray grabbed Summers’ legs so he would not fall into the water. Summers pulled the woman up high enough for Ray to reach her other arm and they lifted her to safety.
The Coast Guard has equipment specifically for ice rescue, Summers said, “but in this situation we were able to go in directly and rescue her. The victim was becoming less and less responsive; we knew we had to act fast.”
The Grayslake woman was placed in a hypothermia recovery capsule, made of a fabric designed to use a person’s body heat to assist in re-warming, the Coast Guard reported.
The sailors then wrapped her in blankets and treated her for hypothermia until paramedics from the Wilmette Fire Department arrived.
Wilmette Fire Lt. Mark Cacchione said the woman was “disoriented, but conscious.” Paramedics transported her to Evanston Hospital where she was reported in stable condition Sunday, the Coast Guard reported.
Summers estimates less than five minutes passed from when Edwards heard the screams to when they had pulled the woman out of the water.
His bedroom is less than 100 yards from where she was found. Coast Guard personnel did not know how she got in the water.
The Coast Guard warns people to use caution when walking on or near ice, never go out alone, and remember, “No ice is safe ice.”
Read the original article from WBBM News Radio.
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