Confidence, CA — There were several heroics from emergency responders this past week, and a Confidence man is sharing one such story.
Rich Lundin and his wife live in the 22000 block of Confidence Road.
Lundin, known to many around Twain Harte by his nickname, “The Scotsman,” is a geologist and president of a local mining company. His wife was out of town on Thursday, and he needed to get to an important medical appointment in the midst of the biggest winter storm system of the season.
He reached out to the Twain Harte Fire Department, explained the situation, and was told that they could send someone over to his home to help him get to where he needed to go.
In anticipation of them arriving, Lundin says, “With snow sticks in hand, I headed down the driveway through 4-5 feet of snow down to the road, which was about ¼ mile away. Then, 20 feet from the road, I fell into a hole that went up to my chest.”
Stuck in the snowdrift, he was still able to reach his cell phone and call 911.
“All I said was, ‘Help, I’m stuck in a hole.’”
The dispatcher responded, “Hang on, they are on their way.”
Lundin quickly started to get symptoms of hypothermia as he awaited their arrival, and remembers, “I didn’t think I was going to make it. So, I said a prayer, and a Hail Mary, to see if I could get out. And just as I finished, the firefighters pulled up.”
The first two, Charlie Kjeldgaard and Neftali Orozco, ran over and dug Sundin out of the snowdrift by hand. Others later assisted with the rescue effort, Kaleb Trine, Mason Jones, and Ethan Rowe, and they were able to stabilize Lundin and help get him to the hospital.
Lundin says, “The hospital personnel later told me that if I had been in the snow any longer, I would be dead. So, I owe all of them my life. And a Scotsman never forgets.”
Lundin says he is sharing the story in hopes that the firefighters and the dispatcher involved can receive their due credit for the lifesaving efforts.
Central Sierra Broadcasting also reached out to Twain Harte Fire Chief Neil Gamez about the incident, and he noted that just about an hour afterward, there was another similar rescue call in which responders successfully helped save a victim who was pinned under a tree on Spruce Drive. They were among the 91 calls for service that the Twain Harte Fire Department alone received over 96 hours.
