A Brooklyn woman just wanted to go for a walk in the fresh air on Wednesday, away from the crowds to avoid coronavirus. She didn’t think she would get bogged down with a different problem.
The woman, 60, who didn’t want to give her name, began shouting for help at about 3:30 pm on April 22. She was inside the Salt Marsh Nature Center in Marine Park, and became stuck in knee-deep mud in Shell Bank Creek, just off Avenue U.
“[I] just wanted to get out a little bit away from the crowds,” the woman said, adding that she “walked off the trail” and wound up sinking deep into the mud.
Someone on Avenue U heard her cries for help and called 911. Upon arrival, the FDNY, 63rd Precinct and Gerritsen Beach Volunteer Fire Department began a search of the water’s edge.
First responders found the stuck woman just off Burnett Street. The Gerritsen Beach Fire Department used a six-wheel drive, all-terrain vehicle to approach her, but Chief Danny Cavanagh had to get out of the truck to reach the woman, so as not to get the vehicle stuck.
“We had a call of woman stuck in the mud so we did a search and found her — she was just sitting there,” Cavanagh said. “I have a few feet of mud in my boots right now.”
Citywide volunteer companies like the Gerritsen firefighters have picked up a lot of the slack of late, working with the 911 system to respond on calls, including those for suspected COVID-19 cases.
This story first appeared on amny.com.
