Firefighters were in 'right place at the right time' to save swimmers from dam

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Three days after Gwinnett County firefighters rescued 11 people from a raging river inside a local park, people continue to break the law and swim there.

Since those rescues, police told Channel 2's Richard Elliot that they have been out to Freeman's Mill Park 20 times, given 30 verbal warnings and written three citations for swimmers at the park.

It is illegal to swim in the creek there.

Video taken Saturday afternoon shows how storm water turned the creek turned into a roaring river, trapping 11 people both above and below the dam along the creek.

“You see what you need to do and you just kind of do it,” firefighter Craig Tisdale said.

He, along with Ty Suber and Stan Bowers, were the first three firefighters on the scene Saturday and immediately realized the three people on the dam needed rescuing, and fast.

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“I was terrified because, again, the gentleman, the gentleman we went after, you could tell he was worn out. He was absolutely exhausted,” Bowers told Elliot.

“I thought we were going to lose him,” Suber said. “We were able to get him up, which was kind of miraculous because he was … his head was just barely above the surface.”

The three pulled all the victims off the dam and, by then, the swift-water rescue team arrived to get the eight others out of the water.

Miraculously, no one was hurt.

“It was great that we were able to help them,” Suber said.

He told Elliot that one man almost didn’t make it out

The firefighters credit their training, along with some divine intervention.

“We were in the right place at the right time. Thanks to the good Lord,” Bowers said.

Gwinnett police told Elliot they’ll continue to watch this swimming hole closely and will issue either citations or verbal warnings if they catch people swimming there.

Cox Media Group