Ozark County’s emergency personnel respond to extra busy holiday weekend

The three-day Fourth of July weekend was a busy one for Ozark County’s first responders, ambulance personnel and sheriff’s department. Emergency staffers and volunteers responded to 46 calls in the 72-hour holiday period. (See the sheriff’s report on page 7.)

Twenty-two of those calls were from residents who needed ambulance and medical first responders to help with conditions ranging from chest pain, stroke symptoms and “tick fever” to life-threatening accidents involving falls, vehicle crashes and fireworks injuries.

The Ozark County Sheriff’s Department was equally busy. Routine traffic stops, warrant arrests and other motorist-related calls were mixed with responses to complaints about neighbors setting off fireworks, threatening signs on a county road, a bank’s triggered security alarm, a stranded motorist, trespassing reports, suspected drugs found in a resort cabin and thefts in Dora and Gainesville. Officers also dealt with a combative woman who was attempting to jump off the Theodosia bridge, and they were asked to notify next-of-kin about the death of a family member. Deputies were called for two domestic disputes, one in Gainesville and another with reported assault near Blair Bridge in the Dora area. And they responded to residents who reported suspicious incidents: One woman said cups scattered around the crawl space of her home made her suspect someone was staying under her house. Another woman said she heard a thumping noise in her backyard and wanted a deputy to respond. 

Intermingled with these rather routine calls were the more serious matters, described below, that sent deputies and other responders rushing to accident scenes around the county. 

Emergency personnel who were interviewed for this story made a point of saying how smoothly Ozark County responders cooperate as they answer calls for help here. In various ways, those interviewed told the Times it would be impossible for one department or agency to respond alone to the many and widely varied calls that come in from throughout the area. Their comments underscore how the sheriff and his deputies, ambulance personnel and well-trained volunteer firefighters and first responders throughout the county rely on each other as they work together in service to Ozark Countians and the many tourists who visit here. 

 

Friday, 5 p.m.

Man is seriously injured after diving

 into Blue Spring near Dora

The most serious incident on July 3 occurred sometime around 5 p.m. at Blue Spring, a popular summertime swimming hole on a trail about a quarter-mile from the campground at the North Fork Recreation Area, known locally as Hammond access.

A caller told the Ozark County Sheriff’s Department dispatcher that a man in his 30s had dived off the rocky ledge above the spring and hit his head as he entered the water. The caller said the man had been pulled out of the spring and was going in and out of consciousness. 

Ozark County Ambulance, Air Evac, Ozark County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Winston Collins and Dora Volunteer Fire Department first responders were dispatched. 

Collins, who lives in the Dora area, arrived at the scene at 5:20 p.m., just 12 minutes after the call came into the sheriff’s office. Dora VFD husband-and-wife first responders Rick and Jan Ordoyne arrived around the same time. John Epley and Jeremy McKee, also Dora first responders, were there a few minutes later.

“He hit his face on the rock under the water in the spring. He dove into the middle, but it just isn’t too deep there. He did a number on his face and his left arm and left leg,” Epley told the Times. 

While Collins and the other first responders worked together to stabilize the patient until ambulance personnel arrived, Epley hiked back out the little trail alongside the river to the campground and continued on to an area near the Hammond bridge on CC Highway to help create a landing zone for the Air Evac helicopter. 

The Ozark County Ambulance crew traveled 28.6 miles from their base in Gainesville to the North Fork Recreation Area then hiked out to the spring and helped the other responders load the patient onto a backboard. The group then carried the man back out over the rugged trail to the ambulance, which transported him to the landing zone that had been established near the new canoe ramp being built at the recreation area. 

Air Evac accepted the call at 5:19 p.m. and gave an estimated 14-minute arrival time. The air ambulance transported the man to Mercy Hospital in Springfield. Dora first responders, last to clear the scene, reported themselves “back in service” at 6:45 p.m., an hour and 37 minutes from when the call was first made. 

 

Friday, 7 p.m.

Side-by-side rollover at Cloud 9 Ranch

Two hours and one minute after the Blue Springs incident was called into the sheriff’s department, another call came in at 7:08 p.m. reporting an ATV accident at Cloud 9 Ranch. 

The call reported that a man, also in his 30s, had rolled a side-by-side vehicle and hit his head. 

Ozark County Ambulance was initially dispatched but was almost immediately canceled when first responders reported to the dispatcher that they were already on scene and the patient was being transported to the hospital in a private vehicle. 

 

Saturday, 5 p.m.

Canoeist injured on the North Fork River

After the Friday incident at Blue Spring, Dora first responders were at it again Saturday evening when they were dispatched to assist an injured canoeist.

The sheriff’s report call log says a 4:55 p.m. call reported that a woman had incurred a head injury when her canoe tipped over in the North Fork of the White River. 

The dispatcher was told that the woman and her floating companion would float down to Blair Bridge to meet emergency responders, Epley said. Instead, they were able to exit the river at River of Life campground and cabins, about 4 miles upstream from Blair Bridge. 

Tecumseh VFD first responder J.B. Duke, along with Dora responders McKee, the Ordoynes and Epley, rushed to River of Life to help the woman until Ozark County Ambulance arrived and transported the woman to Ozarks Medical Center in West Plains. 

Dora first responders were back in service at 5:16 p.m., 21 minutes from when the call came in.

 

Saturday, 10:45 p.m. 

Man injured in a fireworks-related incident

The next serious injury was called into the sheriff’s office at 10:45 p.m. from a residence in Price Place, Arkansas, a couple of miles south of Pontiac on W Highway. The reporting party said a 40-year-old man had been lighting off fireworks, and one had exploded in his face. 

Pontiac/Price Place VFD chief Khristie Jacquin said she had actually been at the fireworks display with her family earlier that night, along with several other friends and neighbors from Pontiac. Jacquin had left the residence about 10 minutes before the call came through.

“I started … to go back right away,” she said. “The man had been lighting fireworks throughout the night, but when he lit one in particular, it blew up in his hand, which was near his face. That caused him to turn around, and he tripped and fell.”

Jacquin said the man sustained injuries to his face and chest.

She told the dispatcher by radio that they needed an ambulance, but with such a busy night, all area ambulances were responding to other calls and were unable to meet her at the Pontiac/Price Place VFD base as requested. 

“Ozark County was out on a call, all of Baxter [County, Arkansas] ambulances were out, Ava ambulance was out, Howell County was out,” she said. “We tried to get an air ambulance, but both Air Evac and Mercy declined. So we just decided to take him in our vehicles.”

Jacquin said she helped load the man onto a backboard, and she and other responders used a vehicle that would allow him to lie flat on the board to ride to the hospital. 

“I escorted him in my vehicle with my lights and sirens on down to Baxter [Regional Medical Center] in Mountain Home,” she said. “We arrived and got him out and into a wheelchair, and the hospital staff took over.”

Jacquin arrived home at 12:30 a.m., two hours and 45 minutes after the call first came in. She was told later that, at BRMC, the man was diagnosed with second degree burns to his face and chest. 

When thanked for her service, Jacquin said she is honored to respond and help the community. “I put my heart and soul into this department and wouldn’t have it any other way,” she said.

 

Early Sunday morning, just after midnight

ATV accident leads to desperate need for tourniquet

At 12:14 a.m. Sunday morning, about an hour and 45 minutes after the call for the fireworks incident, the sheriff’s office received a report of another serious injury.

This time the caller said that a 46-year-old woman had wrecked an ATV at a residence near Highways 160 and J and sustained a severe cut on her leg. The call log shows that the reporting party told the dispatcher the laceration went clear to the bone, and they were afraid the woman was bleeding out. The caller said they’d attempted to use a belt as a tourniquet, but the caller begged the dispatcher to get emergency responders there as quickly as possible. 

As had happened with the Price Place incident, no ambulances were available from Ozark County or nearby districts, so the dispatcher toned out an ambulance from Taney County. The Taney County ambulance crew attempted to tone out Air Evac instead, as Taney County emergency personnel realized the air ambulance would surely be quicker than the 66-mile trek from the Taney County base in Hollister. However, Air Evac declined to fly due to weather issues on the foggy Saturday night. 

Hearing that the helicopter wasn’t an option, Taney County ambulance personnel headed toward the accident scene. In the meantime, Ozark County Sheriff’s Deputies Jeff Lane and Seth Miller and Lick Creek VFD first responders Bill and Tammy Townsend and Frank Lang raced to the site of the ATV crash, which was about 200 yards from Highway 160 in a field behind the Heritage Wood Products building on J Highway. 

“I wasn’t given much information except that there would be people there to flag us down when we got there,” Lane told the Times. “The caller [asked us] to respond with a tourniquet….”

Lane grabbed a tourniquet and headed toward the crash at 12:56 a.m., 44 minutes after the call came in. When he arrived at the scene, a group of individuals were struggling to help the woman, he said.

Frank Lang, who owns the Classic RV Park on Highway 160, about a quarter-mile from the crash site, said when he and the other first responders arrived, they knew it was a serious wound.

“It was a cut on her left calf-area, about 6 inches long and cut clear to the bone,” he said. “She said she’d gotten it stuck between the front wheel of the four-wheeler and something else. Everyone did a good job, considering it was 12:30 a.m. Even the people who were with her, her friends, did a great job of keeping her straight and settled down.”

The Townsends stayed with the woman, and Lang went to the end of the driveway and waited to help flag in the sheriff’s deputies and ambulance. 

Lane arrived before Miller and followed Lang to the scene of the crash.

“A bystander had made a makeshift tourniquet out of a belt and a rope,” he said. “I took my personal one [tourniquet] and applied it above the knee and had the first responders elevate the leg and place an emergency blanket on her due to blood loss.”

Miller was in route to the crash site at 1:05 a.m.

“When he came on scene, he took charge and was able to position vehicles where they needed to be staged and direct the ambulance to our location,” Lane said. “He was also able to coordinate with the ambulance crew and one of the responders to show them the quickest route to Baxter [Regional Medical Center] due to J Highway being closed down.”

When the Taney County ambulance arrived, Lang and Miller helped direct the large vehicle into the site where the injured woman was waiting. Emergency personnel secured her to a backboard, got her on a gurney and loaded her into the ambulance, which headed to the Mountain Home hospital at 1:46 a.m., about an hour and a half from the time the call was made.

Lick Creek first responders were back in service at 2:18 a.m., two hours and four minutes after the call came in.

Miller posted about his fellow deputy on Facebook Sunday morning.

“…Last night was crazy, and ambulance crews were super busy all over the area,” he wrote. “A medical [call] came in, and an ambulance had to be dispatched from Taney County… a long way out. [Deputy Lane] rushed out to the scene, applied his personal tourniquet to a horrible leg wound, marked times down on the person’s pants and helped first responders.”

Miller’s post continued, “All first responders were excellent, but I’m really proud to work with a super professional, quick-thinking and versatile deputy. Kudos to Jeff Lane and everyone there.”

Ozark County Sheriff Darrin Reed agreed.

“Jeff is an outstanding deputy that I’m proud of,” he told the Times Monday evening. “He is a great asset to Ozark County.”

After spending hours at the hectic incident in the early morning hours Sunday, Lane, who also serves in the Missouri National Guard, left later that evening for St. Louis, where he’ll spend the next two weeks doing military training.

Ozark County Times

504 Third Steet
PO Box 188
Gainesville, MO 65655

Phone: (417) 679-4641
Fax: (417) 679-3423