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Jun 23, 2008 5:26 pm US/Central
Minutes Until Search Ends, Firefighters Find Keith
(WCCO)
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"We found him," said Pawlitschek. "More amazing, we found him alive. It was incredible."
CBS
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Kennedy was staying at a camp for developmentally disabled adults, when he disappeared on his way back to the bunk house. (File)
CBS
A group of St. Paul firefighters found Keith Kennedy Sunday night minutes before the rescue was about to be called off. They had all volunteered for the search. Little did they know it would turn into a day they'd never forget.
"We didn't expect that. I don't think anybody expected that," said Capt. Rick Zech of the St. Paul Fire Department.
For nearly a week, search and rescue teams combed an area near a Wisconsin camp searching for Keith Kennedy. Sixteen St. Paul firefighters volunteered to help out Sunday, a day they knew was likely to be the last full day of searching.
"It was horrible," recalled firefighter Drew Pawlitschek. "It was swampy, marshy, thorns everywhere."
"For the most part it was trees, branches, thorn bushes everything. Guys got cuts all over their arms and legs, we expected part of that," said Capt. Zech. "And then the rain hit. We got so wet everyone compared it to jumping in the lake and jumping back out again. My feet were just getting so heavy that every tree branch that was down felt like it was three feet off the ground instead of six inches off the ground."
The team was on its final pass through a heavily wooded area. They'd already spent seven hours searching and were two minutes shy of the search being called off for good, when one of their own made the find of a lifetime. Drew Pawlitschek was searching in a long line of firefighters and a few feet away.
"I just remembered him yelling 'We found him! We found him!' And like, 'oh wow.' And then when he said 'He's alive!' that's when everybody started running," said Pawlitschek.
"It was like winning the Stanley Cup," said Zech. "Unfortunately or fortunately Keith was the trophy, and everybody got to carry the trophy for a little while because it was such a long ways out."
The firefighters took turns carrying Keith back to camp, a nearly one-mile trek. They can't help but smile when they think about the remarkable events of Sunday.
"We found him," said Pawlitschek. "More amazing, we found him alive. It was incredible."
It's even more so for Pawlitschek. He just became a St. Paul firefighter Friday. His volunteer shift in Wisconsin was his first official day on the job. He said he'd always wanted to become a firefighter. He waited three years to get accepted by the St. Paul Fire Department.
"It's a truly amazing story. It's one you read about, not actually be a part of," he said. "I think this is pretty much why we all did it, to have the chance to save somebody. It's not that we want to be heroes, we want to help. To see the look on his mom's face was worth every bit of it."
"I don't know how he's ever going to top this. I hope he has a long career, but boy, this one's hard to top," said Capt. Zech.
The St. Paul Fire Department said this weekend's search was a team effort. There were crews from various Minnesota and Wisconsin fire, police and sheriff's departments. There were also hundreds of civilian volunteers. No one was giving up hope of finding Keith Kennedy alive, and their efforts paid off.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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