WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:01.081 - [Female Interviewer] Look this way, the entire time. 00:01.081 --> 00:01.914 - Okay. 00:01.914 --> 00:03.039 - [Female Interviewer] Can you just say and spell 00:03.039 --> 00:04.440 first and last name for us and your title. 00:04.440 --> 00:09.110 - Yep, so Sergeant Cody Haffly, first name spelled C-O-D-Y. 00:09.110 --> 00:11.906 Last name H-A-F-F-L-Y. 00:11.906 --> 00:13.620 - [Female Interviewer] And so Sergent Haffly, 00:13.620 --> 00:16.740 just tell us a little bit about what happened last week. 00:16.740 --> 00:19.370 - So last week I was on my way into work 00:19.370 --> 00:24.290 and driving down Dean Forest I noticed two truckers, 00:24.290 --> 00:27.097 18 Wheeler drivers were stopped on the side of the road 00:27.097 --> 00:29.170 and seemed to not be acting normal. 00:29.170 --> 00:32.093 After I passed them I just thought to myself, 00:32.934 --> 00:35.240 like things seem out of line, out of whack. 00:35.240 --> 00:36.470 So I turned around and went back. 00:36.470 --> 00:38.130 When I went back I stopped in the middle of the road, 00:38.130 --> 00:39.850 asked them what was wrong and they explained to me 00:39.850 --> 00:42.279 that there was a vehicle, that went through the canal 00:42.279 --> 00:45.500 and there was a guy trapped inside of it. 00:45.500 --> 00:47.590 At that point, I went over to the side of the road, 00:47.590 --> 00:49.267 saw the vehicle, went down 00:49.267 --> 00:52.277 and tried to gain access to the driver. 00:52.277 --> 00:55.770 Another trucker had stopped and passed me a pipe. 00:55.770 --> 00:58.800 I was able to break out the back window and gain access. 00:58.800 --> 01:01.410 At that point I started talking to the gentleman 01:01.410 --> 01:02.940 just to see how he was, see if he was okay, 01:02.940 --> 01:05.630 how he was feeling and try to get an assessment 01:05.630 --> 01:07.390 of what his injuries were. 01:07.390 --> 01:08.980 He explained to me that he was having a little bit 01:08.980 --> 01:12.376 of difficulty breathing in the position that he was in. 01:12.376 --> 01:15.080 So I was able to move around to the side of the vehicle 01:15.080 --> 01:17.070 and get him into a position where 01:17.070 --> 01:19.800 he was a little bit more comfortable, able to breathe. 01:19.800 --> 01:21.260 And then wait until the rest 01:21.260 --> 01:23.237 of the emergency responders got there. 01:23.237 --> 01:24.350 - [Female Interviewer] For you is it kind of 01:24.350 --> 01:25.650 just natural instinct 01:25.650 --> 01:27.810 to get in the water and help this person 01:27.810 --> 01:29.950 that was obviously trapped? 01:29.950 --> 01:32.593 - I think it's natural to try to wanna help people. 01:34.270 --> 01:37.230 Human nature, we try to do good for other ones 01:37.230 --> 01:39.428 and we want others to do good for us. 01:39.428 --> 01:40.480 The golden rule. 01:40.480 --> 01:43.290 So I think that's kind of all it was. 01:43.290 --> 01:45.630 I'd want someone to stop and help my family or help me 01:45.630 --> 01:46.770 if I was in that situation. 01:46.770 --> 01:48.970 So I should do the same for another citizen. 01:50.460 --> 01:53.400 - [Male Interviewer] Sergeant, just describe the conditions 01:53.400 --> 01:55.380 that you went into there. 01:55.380 --> 01:56.850 How deep was the water? 01:56.850 --> 01:59.100 Was there any concern that the man was gonna be 01:59.100 --> 02:00.160 overtaken by the water? 02:00.160 --> 02:01.708 How'd you know that? 02:01.708 --> 02:04.288 - So the water was only about chest deep. 02:04.288 --> 02:06.250 Just looking at it, assessing it, 02:06.250 --> 02:07.560 it hadn't rained here in a while, 02:07.560 --> 02:09.670 so the water wasn't really running. 02:09.670 --> 02:12.110 That canal can get pretty full. 02:12.110 --> 02:15.940 I felt that the vehicle was pretty stable 02:15.940 --> 02:17.400 and it was in a situation to where 02:17.400 --> 02:19.210 there wasn't really any danger to that. 02:19.210 --> 02:20.750 I just didn't know the status 02:20.750 --> 02:21.930 of the gentlemen in the vehicle. 02:21.930 --> 02:25.080 I don't know if the wreck knocked him out or where he's at, 02:25.080 --> 02:26.730 how he's situated inside there. 02:26.730 --> 02:29.470 So the first thing to me was to get in and assess 02:29.470 --> 02:31.657 where he was and what could be done to help him out. 02:31.657 --> 02:34.510 - [Male Interviewer] Had you had prior training also 02:34.510 --> 02:35.367 as a firefighter? - Yes. 02:35.367 --> 02:38.090 - [Male Interviewer] So you learned a little bit about this. 02:38.090 --> 02:38.923 Yeah? 02:38.923 --> 02:39.756 When you worked with men in fire? 02:39.756 --> 02:40.589 - Yes, definitely. 02:40.589 --> 02:44.500 Savannah Fire is a top class organization. 02:44.500 --> 02:46.201 Everyone there is trained super well. 02:46.201 --> 02:49.320 They do a great job at making sure all of their employees 02:49.320 --> 02:51.990 know what's going on and how to act in situations. 02:51.990 --> 02:55.120 So that definitely had a lot to do with being able to assess 02:55.120 --> 02:58.540 what was going on and just help out until they got there 02:58.540 --> 03:00.362 and took over. 03:00.362 --> 03:01.270 - [Male Interviewer] And your interaction 03:01.270 --> 03:02.103 with the gentleman, 03:02.103 --> 03:04.510 you said he described to you having some issues breathing. 03:04.510 --> 03:05.343 Did he say anything else? 03:05.343 --> 03:08.210 Did you have any kind of conversation to keep him calm 03:08.210 --> 03:09.043 while you were waiting for-- 03:09.043 --> 03:10.404 - Yeah I just got his name from him, 03:10.404 --> 03:13.150 told him my name and we just sat there and talk to him. 03:13.150 --> 03:15.010 Basically just let them know that I was there. 03:15.010 --> 03:18.131 Let him know, "Hey, I can hear the ambulances 03:18.131 --> 03:20.700 and the rest of the firefighters showing up." 03:20.700 --> 03:22.770 Once the police showed up, I let him know, 03:22.770 --> 03:25.320 people are on their way and do everything you can to just 03:25.320 --> 03:28.950 keep him calm, let him relax and stay in a good mental state 03:28.950 --> 03:31.267 until we can get him out of there. 03:31.267 --> 03:35.195 - [Male Interviewer] And I know, given your service status, 03:35.195 --> 03:37.586 you're serving your country now, 03:37.586 --> 03:40.720 then you served the community with the fire department. 03:40.720 --> 03:43.000 A lot of folks would consider you a hero. 03:43.000 --> 03:44.800 Would you consider yourself a hero, officer? 03:44.800 --> 03:45.633 - I don't think so. 03:45.633 --> 03:48.750 I think I did what any other normal human being 03:48.750 --> 03:49.670 would have done, right? 03:49.670 --> 03:51.890 Like when we look down and we see a situation, 03:51.890 --> 03:52.919 we as people wanna help others. 03:52.919 --> 03:56.930 And I think the majority of mankind is gonna do that. 03:56.930 --> 03:59.000 So I was just doing what I thought was the right thing 03:59.000 --> 03:59.833 at the time. 04:00.768 --> 04:02.580 - [Female Interviewer] And how has some of the training 04:02.580 --> 04:03.847 in your current role now... 04:03.847 --> 04:06.649 How did it help with that rescue? 04:06.649 --> 04:08.643 - So we train our guys, 04:09.630 --> 04:10.950 our career field's a little bit different. 04:10.950 --> 04:14.520 We put a lot of responsibility on really junior guys 04:14.520 --> 04:15.790 in the military. 04:15.790 --> 04:19.440 And so from day one they're trained to respond 04:19.440 --> 04:23.790 in a correct way to whatever may be happening at the time. 04:23.790 --> 04:28.040 And I think that if you take anybody in any other 04:28.040 --> 04:30.760 organization in similar to the one this one is, 04:30.760 --> 04:32.330 and you put that in that same situation, 04:32.330 --> 04:33.560 they're gonna react the same way 04:33.560 --> 04:35.070 just because of that training. 04:35.070 --> 04:37.067 Taught how to respond, how to stay calm, 04:37.067 --> 04:38.870 mentally assess what's going on, 04:38.870 --> 04:41.427 and make a tactical risk assessment of what can I do 04:41.427 --> 04:43.260 and how can I help out? 04:43.260 --> 04:44.093 So, like I said, 04:44.093 --> 04:45.970 I think if you replace me with anyone else, 04:45.970 --> 04:47.570 they're gonna do the same thing. 04:48.404 --> 04:49.237 - [Male Interviewer] And after all that, 04:49.237 --> 04:50.200 you just went back to work, is that right? 04:50.200 --> 04:51.170 - Just came back to work 04:51.170 --> 04:53.919 and started training other guys again. 04:53.919 --> 04:56.002 - [Male Interviewer] Wow. 04:56.877 --> 04:57.710 Great job. 04:57.710 --> 04:58.634 - [Female Interviewer] Is there anything that 04:58.634 --> 04:59.634 you wanna add about it 04:59.634 --> 05:00.714 or anything you think that you missed? 05:00.714 --> 05:03.530 - I just, I wanna say Savannah Fire did a great job. 05:03.530 --> 05:05.164 They got there extremely fast. 05:05.164 --> 05:06.210 Having worked there, 05:06.210 --> 05:08.430 I know where some of those people came from, 05:08.430 --> 05:09.677 and I knew some of the guys that showed up 05:09.677 --> 05:14.330 and they got from downtown to the canal pretty fast. 05:14.330 --> 05:17.104 And then continue to act like a world class organization, 05:17.104 --> 05:19.150 guide everyone out of there. 05:19.150 --> 05:23.680 And then I appreciate the bosses and everyone here being... 05:23.680 --> 05:26.477 Working with me, showing up a little bit late 05:26.477 --> 05:27.363 and working through all of this as well. 05:27.363 --> 05:29.390 - [ Male Interviewer ] I'm sure they understood. 05:29.390 --> 05:30.481 - They did. 05:30.481 --> 05:31.314 - [Female interviewer] Some dry clothes maybe. 05:31.314 --> 05:32.147 (laughter) 05:32.147 --> 05:33.773 - [Female Interviewer] Thank you so much. 05:33.773 --> 05:35.258 - Yeah, thank you, appreciate...