JOHNSON COUNTY, Tenn. — A crew of electrical linemen are being called heroes after their quick action saved a woman’s life. A mudslide and a falling tree pushed her truck off the road into rushing floodwaters.
Mollie Ingle was working close by when a neighbor asked for help. There was little phone service. 911 couldn’t even get a radio signal.
“They couldn’t get the call to come through clearly,” Ingle said. “It kept breaking up, so I actually used my radio to call these guys.”
Without asking questions, linemen Cody Bryant and Rick Courtner rushed to the scene with a bucket truck, not knowing what they would find.
“I was pushing it as hard as I could go,” Bryant said. “We had two or three hills we had to pull, like 20 miles per hour.”
The two rushed to the scene and put on their harnesses. The bucket barely reached. A crowd watched from the creek bank.
“I started talking to her, asking her name,” Courtner said. “trying to keep her calm considering the situation, because you could see the fear in her eyes.”
Ingle said, “When they got her in the bucket, she was clinging to Rick. She was so… everyone there was so happy.”
Courtner and Bryant don’t see themselves as heroes. They call this rescue routine, just like doing electrical work.
“I knew the lady’s life was at risk and we got her out,” Courtner said. “but as far as the mindset in us doing it, it’s something we do every day.”