A vehicle has gone off the road and into the creek somewhere off of Stroh Road and Sandpit Road in Alexander.
The driver called a fire chief who notified dispatchers.
The car is in the water. The driver may have passed out. He isn't sure of his exact location.
Alexander fire is dispatched.
UPDATE 1:17 p.m.: The driver tells the chief he's blowing his horn. He isn't visible from the roadway. The chief has not spotted where he might have gone in. Dispatchers are going to try and ping his phone to determine his location.
UPDATE 1:19 p.m.: The vehicle has been located at Genesee Street and Maplewood.
UPDATE 1:21 p.m.: The driver is out of the vehicle. Tow truck requested to the scene. The vehicle is in the water.
UPDATE 1:23 p.m.: A deputy says the tow truck needs to expedite. It's fast-moving water and the car is being pulled deeper in. It's about six feet into the water now.
UPDATE(S) (By Billie) 1:49 p.m.: The male driver had a medical emergency and an Alexander ambulance took him to UMMC for evaluation. The tow truck is working to remove the vehicle from the water-filled culvert.
UPDATE 3:12 p.m.: Marshall Merle, chief of the Alexander Fire Department, said the victim in this incident is his boss who called his job site to reach him -- since he knew he was a volunteer fireman -- when he came to after blacking out and found he had crashed into a culvert with swiftly flowing water. The man was unsure of his location. Merle contacted the Emergency Dispatch Center, and tones went out for Alexander to respond. "We were running around trying to find him -- it took awhile," the chief said, adding the he did not know how long the victim had been unconscious before he came to and found himself in a predicament. There were no brake marks, Merle said, "he just went right off the road into the water." Firefighter Jeff Fluker finally located the man, who by that time had gotten out of his vehicle, which was quickly filling with water, and scrambled onto its roof. Getting him to safe ground was not too difficult. They used a ladder that he climbed across. Safety was the biggest concern. "We didn't want to get anybody in the water," Merle said. "A car's not worth somebody's life. We can go back for the car. Safety of our guys is the primary concern." Merle added that "normally this crick isn't running like it is now." They had to act quickly in the rescue before the vehicle drifted into the larger "crick."
