SANFORD, Fla. – A dangerous situation on I-4 near Sanford ended with a woman falling 50 feet off a bridge and into the St. John’s River. Firefighters say she was rescued with the help of a drone.
Both the Seminole County Fire Department and Florida Highway Patrol rushed to the scene just after 12 a.m. Monday. Reports obtained by News 6 from both agencies show the woman, who was inside a car towing a trailer, was first involved in a multi-car crash in the westbound lanes of I-4.
According to troopers, the car the woman was in slowed down for traffic ahead. Another car rear-ended the trailer and separated it from the vehicle. That car ended up in the direct path of a semitrailer, the FHP said.
There were six total vehicles that ended up involved in the crash.
The investigating trooper with FHP says the woman who ended up in the water was a passenger in the car towing the trailer. She and two other people, a male driver and female passenger, got out to recover the disconnected trailer when another car struck them in the emergency lane, the FHP said.
The woman told dispatchers on a phone call to 911 that she “fell of the bridge” and “a car hit me into the water off the bridge.”
Lt. Matt Lallathin, who responded to the emergency call with the Seminole County Fire Department, says the woman fell about 50 feet.
“Her injuries that she sustained, she is very fortunate,” Lallathin said.
Lallathin says it was pitch black at the time of the crash, and there was no way for firefighters to find the woman by boat. They relied on a drone they use with thermal imaging and infrared cameras to locate her and bring her to safety.
“The drone was instrumental in this because they initially had contact with her via phone. She was able to swim to one of the platforms,” Lallathin said. “She advised her phone was dying, so they had contact through dispatch with her and then we were able to get a little bit of a visual contact, but it was so dark out they couldn’t really see her.”
Lallathin says once the drone’s camera verified the woman’s location and that she was moving and somewhat stable, they quickly got her into a rescue boat.
The Seminole County Fire Department has been using drones since 2020, and say the technology is invaluable to crews on scene.
Currently, drones are used to enhance operations by relaying images in real-time of an incident from above. They also use thermal imaging to find hot spots at fire scenes, search for lost individuals, and drones are used during hurricane response and recovery operations for damage assessments.
“I would say that the drones for our operations are priceless. They’re a tool that we will be able to use for multi-faceted responses,” said Lt. Lallathin. “We can use them for just about any type of response.”
SCFD staff have drone pilots on shift for EMS 1 and Tech 1, which means these units are available to respond to incidents anywhere in their jurisdiction 24/7.
“We’re able to get them pretty much anywhere in the county within 15 minutes,” Lallathin said.
When asked if the drone technology is getting results, Lallathin replied, “Absolutely.”
In fact, he believes they are saving lives.
“This instance was the perfect example of being able to use the drone to assist our crews on the bridge and the crews in the water,” said Lallathin.