Report: Apple's Siri Helps Rescue Teenager Trapped in Freezing River

By Amanda Thomason December 15, 2019 at 12:29am

Winter brings warm family traditions and frigid weather conditions — though the severity of the latter depends on where you live.

If you live in a place that gets cold enough that you can have a white Christmas, you probably also know of the perils of black ice.

Nearly invisible, sheets of ice on the roadway are responsible for many accidents every year — which is probably why emergency response teams have been sending out warnings.

“December is here which means snow will be making a show whenever it wants,” the Nora Springs Farm & Fire page shared on Dec. 4. “Please use caution when driving during this winter season.”

“We have all the equipment and training necessary for accidents and extrications… we just don’t want to have to use them. Be safe out there.”

Just days after the post, they ended up using their training and equipment alongside the Mason City Fire Department in Iowa when an 18-year-old found himself trapped in his car in icy water.

According to KIMT, Gael Salcedo was driving to class when he hit ice on the road. While he managed to avoid hitting other cars, his car ran off the road and into the Winnebago River.

Everything happened so quickly that he barely had time to register what had happened before he was in a fight for his life.

“I turned to the right and from there, everything just went blurry,” he told the news outlet. “I didn’t know where I was going and then I just didn’t know what to do. I was just thinking in my head ‘I think I’m going to die.'”

And he might have, if he hadn’t reacted quickly and made use of his smartphone‘s Siri feature. In all the commotion, he had lost track of his phone — but fortunately, Siri is voice-activated.

“I lost my phone and since I couldn’t find it, I was like ‘Hey Siri, call 911.’ And once Siri called, that’s when I found my phone finally,” he said.

When first responders arrived, they found Salcedo stuck inside.

Though he’d opened the window, the water was forcing the driver’s side door closed, so his rescuer had to urge him to walk out of the car with him.

“[I] basically explained to him that there’s no other way,” Mason City Fire Lieutenant Craig Warner said. “You’re going to have to walk out. I’ll be right there with you holding on every step of the way.”

The walk was cold, and Salcedo said he kept tripping and lost the feeling in his legs. Without help from the fire departments, he might not have made it out.

“My hands were freezing. I couldn’t feel my legs anymore, so I was struggling a lot and the water was just so strong, so I kept tripping and I had the guy help me up a bunch of times and I used all my strength to get out of the water,” Salcedo said.

“Awesome job by 3rd Battalion and Nora Springs Fire Department,” the Mason City Fire Department posted on Friday.

Though the young man suffered from a case of shock, he only stayed at the hospital for a few hours before being released. If he hadn’t had his phone on him and the sense to use it, he might be in a very different place.

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