A Brooklyn woman just wanted to go for a walk in fresh air 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 p.m. on April 22 inside the Salt Marsh Nature Center waterfront after she became stuck in knee deep mud in Shell Bank Creek in Marine Park, just off Avenue U.
The woman said she “just wanted to get out a little bit away from the crowds.” She said she “walked off the trail” and wound up sinking knee deep into the mud.
Someone on Avenue U heard her cries for help and call 911. The FDNY, 63rd Precinct, Gerritsen Beach Volunteer Firefighters and ambulance crews began a search of the waters edge.
Firefighters and volunteers found the stuck woman just off Burnett Street. Gerritsen Beach Volunteers used a six wheel drive all-terrain vehicle to approach her, but Chief Danny Cavanagh had to get out of the vehicle 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.”
Gerritsen Beach volunteer companies have picked up a lot of the slack of late, working with 911 system to respond on calls, including calls for suspected COVID-19 cases.
