The firefighter who saved a female trucker from a crashed semi last week after it was left dangling off a bridge has offered new insight about the rescue.
Louisville firefighter Bryce Carden successfully retrieved the woman on Friday, after the truck she was driving was sent careening over the edge of the Clark-Memorial Bridge by a car that crossed into the oncoming lane.
The result was a scene out of a movie – with the 18-wheeler somehow threading the needle of the bridge’s stanchions before becoming wedged between them.
This left the truck’s cab dangling some 100 feet over the Ohio river, and the motorist hanging on for dear life. Fortunately, first-responders like Carden were at the scene, and were able to use a pulley system to pluck the woman from her precarious prison.
Sitting down with Good Morning America, he recalled the operation, and how the woman – whom has yet to be identified – was ‘overcome with emotion’.
Officials, meanwhile, revealed her to be a military vet, and food firm Sysco further confirmed she is an employee. Police’s probe, as of writing, remains ongoing.
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The firefighter who saved a female trucker from a crashed semi last week after it was left dangling off a Louisville-area bridge has offered new insight about the heart-pounding rescue
Louisville firefighter Bryce Carden sat down with Good Morning America Monday to offer new details about the now widely seen rescue on Clark Memorial Bridge this past Friday
‘She was, you know, scared,’ recalled Carden, a member of the Louisville Fire Rescue Company with six years’ experience.
‘She was just like, “Thank God, Thank God; help me”, he went on, only a few days after he hoisted the woman to safety.
‘Finally, when she realized that she was safe and she was going to live, she was overcome with emotions, as anybody would be’, Carden said.
Modest despite his heroics, he claimed to be ‘a very small piece in a large puzzle,’ and credited his success to other crewmembers who oversaw the operation ‘topside,’ as well as others deployed in boats underneath.
Thankful for his crew, he hailed the woman for her bravery – echoing statements from Louisville’s own mayor, after the ordeal brought much of the nation to a standstill.
‘She is incredibly brave – she is incredibly fortunate.’
The details add to insight already provided by Carden on Friday, when he and Fire Chief Brian O’Neill appeared for a press conference hours after the rescue.
At the time, Carden recalled how he and the woman prayed as he took her into his arms, as officials later on would reveal it was another car that swerved into the wrong lane that caused the truck, owned by food supplier Sysco, to crash.
‘She was praying a lot and I prayed with her,’ Carden told onlookers a few hours after he and several other first responders were sent scrambling to the scene.
‘She was, you know, scared,’ recalled Carden, a member of the Louisville Fire Rescue Company with six years’ experience.
‘She was just like, “Thank God, Thank God; help me”, he went on, only a few days after he hoisted the woman to safety.
‘Finally, when she realized that she was safe and she was going to live, she was overcome with emotions, as anybody would be’, Carden said
‘We’ve done some crazy things, but this tops it all,’ he continued, revealing Monday that the operation took a little over 40 minutes.
He also revealed how his team trains for similar events on bridges and high-rise buildings, and were well-suited for the particular catastrophe.
‘It all goes back to training,’ the fire official explained. ‘We’ve done this probably a hundred times.
‘Once I reached her she was super calm and collected, and allowed us to do what we do.’
‘In the moment, you don’t really think about it,’ Carden, a Jefferson County Public Schools graduate, added. ‘Your training takes over. Everything slows down and you concentrate on what needs to be done.’
He went on to recall how the adrenaline didn’t kick in until after he pulled the driver to safety – as surreal footage captured his heroics some 80 feet over the Ohio river.
The rescue, he said, occurred around half an hour after the woman’s 18-wheeler inexplicably smashed through barriers installed on the nearly 100-year-old bridge, which connects Louisville with Southern Indiana.
As of writing, it is unclear what caused the crash, which sent about half of the truck and its trailer off the bridge, with the former only connected by the vehicle’s tow hitch.
The delay, Carden explained, was due to it taking about 40 minutes to set up the appropriate rope system, which was attached to a crane-like structure also deployed to the bridge.
Firefighters were able to see and communicate with the female motorist throughout the process, he said – before mentioning the praying.
After they finished, he recalled, he cut the driver out of her seatbelt to get her into the harness, after which the pair were repelled back up several dozen feet to safety.
The details add to insight already provided by Carden on Friday, when he revealed how he and the woman prayed as he took her into his arms
His appeared alongside Fire Chief Brian O’Neill, who also spoke to Good Morning America on Monday
‘It all goes back to training,’ the fire official said. ‘We’ve done this probably a hundred times. ‘Once I reached her she was super calm and collected, and allowed us to do what we do’
‘In the moment, you don’t really think about it,’ Carden, a Jefferson County Public Schools graduate, added. ‘Your training takes over. Everything slows down and you concentrate on what needs to be done’
‘We’ve done some crazy things, but this tops it all,’ he continued, citing how his team often trains for similar events on bridges and high-rise buildings
As of writing, it is unclear what caused the crash, which sent about half of the truck and its trailer off the bridge, though the driver – who was only connected to solid ground thank’s to the several-ton vehicle’s tow hitch – is said to be safe
Her rescue came around half an hour after the front end of the truck was sent dangling some 80 feet above the Ohio river, as Carden and others worked relentlessly to ready the complex pulley system
The truck belongs to food and kitchen appliance retailer Sysco, which issued a statement confirming the woman was a colleague. As of writing, the bridge remains closed, and it remains unclear if the truck has been removed. DailyMail.com has reached out to fire officials for comment
O’Neill, meanwhile, added that the incident – while concluding with a successful rescue – constituted a worst-case scenario, telling onlookers on a street near the still-closed off bridge: ‘It was a constant concern that truck could shift at any moment.’
He added: ‘It’s extremely lucky that the entire truck didn’t go into the river.’
Traffic on the bridge remains stopped after officials worked to remove the truck which belongs to food and kitchen appliance retailer Sysco.
Around 45 minutes after the truck crashed over the barriers, the Louisville Police Department tweeted that ‘the driver of the semi has been rescued from the cab of the vehicle and is on land’, with Carden and O’Neil appearing for the brief a few hours later.
Although the driver was thankfully saved, the entire front end of the vehicle remained alarmingly hanging high in the air.
In a statement after the rescue, Sysco thanked emergency services for their quick response in saving the driver.
‘Sysco is enormously grateful to rescue services and law enforcement who quickly and safely resolved the accident on the Clark Memorial Bridge today,’ the statement read.
‘We are thankful our Sysco colleague is safe and thank the first responders for their courageous efforts rescuing our driver.
‘Safety is a priority at Sysco, and we are cooperating with the law enforcement investigation.’
