1 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:09,000 Speaker 1: Hello, friends, Welcome to Story Behind podcast. This is the 2 00:00:09,039 --> 00:00:12,200 Speaker 1: show for people who love hearing a good story and 3 00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:15,720 Speaker 1: who believe the world could use more positivity. We're the 4 00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:18,959 Speaker 1: team behind God Updates and God Too, and we hope 5 00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:22,239 Speaker 1: these weekly short stories will brighten your day. 6 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:30,520 Speaker 2: Hikers rescued at Utah's Arches National Park after getting stuck 7 00:00:30,560 --> 00:00:34,040 Speaker 2: in quicksand. Written by MICHAELA. Gordonia, read by Jully Provost. 8 00:00:34,880 --> 00:00:37,840 Speaker 2: A thirty three year old hiker, Austin Dirks, was off 9 00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:40,879 Speaker 2: on an outer adventure in Utah's Arches National Park on 10 00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:44,879 Speaker 2: December seventh when he got himself stuck in near freezing temperatures. Fortunately, 11 00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:46,640 Speaker 2: he hit a GPS with him that sent out a 12 00:00:46,680 --> 00:00:49,640 Speaker 2: signal for help. After a while, he was finally rescued 13 00:00:49,640 --> 00:00:52,720 Speaker 2: from quicksand in the shaded canyon. Austin was the second 14 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:55,240 Speaker 2: day of a twenty mile hike in the park when 15 00:00:55,240 --> 00:00:57,240 Speaker 2: he got stuck in the quicksand and no stranger to 16 00:00:57,280 --> 00:00:59,920 Speaker 2: getting my feet wet or you know, having to trudge through, 17 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:04,160 Speaker 2: even Austin said so. Initially, it didn't strike me as unusual. 18 00:01:04,240 --> 00:01:07,200 Speaker 2: I've hiked in conditions almost identical to that. There were 19 00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:10,240 Speaker 2: no immediate red flags that stuck out. Dirk sent out 20 00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:13,280 Speaker 2: a signal for help on his garment and reached GPS 21 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:16,000 Speaker 2: Park ranger reached Austin with a shovel, but the higer 22 00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:18,679 Speaker 2: could not dig himself out more than getting deeper in 23 00:01:18,680 --> 00:01:22,080 Speaker 2: the quicksand. The danger lay in the sands freezing temperatures. 24 00:01:22,520 --> 00:01:26,320 Speaker 2: Grand County Search and Rescue arrived after sending a drone 25 00:01:26,360 --> 00:01:30,160 Speaker 2: to scout his location. He described it like being in 26 00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:32,520 Speaker 2: a ski boot, how your ankle is bent forward and 27 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:35,480 Speaker 2: it's in that forward position. John Marshall, the incident commander 28 00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:37,920 Speaker 2: of the rescue team, said he found it painful to 29 00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:40,280 Speaker 2: try to sit back and lean back out of it, 30 00:01:40,680 --> 00:01:43,120 Speaker 2: which is a method that you can use to astract yourself. 31 00:01:43,720 --> 00:01:46,080 Speaker 2: The team used the ladder and vehicle traction boards to 32 00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:48,320 Speaker 2: get closer to Austin and dig him up. One of 33 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:50,640 Speaker 2: the first things that we said was just, hey, how's 34 00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:54,160 Speaker 2: it going, said Jake Blackwelder, a rescue technician. He was 35 00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:56,840 Speaker 2: pretty tired and stuck and ready to get out. He 36 00:01:56,880 --> 00:02:00,120 Speaker 2: added that the quicksand was the consistency of wet concrete. 37 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:02,560 Speaker 2: When they finally pulled me free, my shoe almost tore off, 38 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:04,720 Speaker 2: but held all on Austin said may They had no 39 00:02:04,760 --> 00:02:06,840 Speaker 2: feeling in it and nearly collapsed When I put weight 40 00:02:06,920 --> 00:02:09,120 Speaker 2: on it, I carefully cross the ladder to solid ground. 41 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:11,880 Speaker 2: The team gave Austin warning packs and a heated blanket 42 00:02:11,919 --> 00:02:14,320 Speaker 2: and drove him back to his score. Austin said he 43 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:17,919 Speaker 2: was sore but intact. The National Park Service to Grand 44 00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:21,800 Speaker 2: County Search and Rescue EMS and the garment dispatchers did 45 00:02:21,840 --> 00:02:24,280 Speaker 2: everything right and recalled. Without them, I would have been 46 00:02:24,320 --> 00:02:26,640 Speaker 2: stuck there until nightfall. My family wouldn't have called it 47 00:02:26,639 --> 00:02:29,360 Speaker 2: in until I was overdue at six pm. I would 48 00:02:29,360 --> 00:02:31,280 Speaker 2: not have been found by chance. I owe them more 49 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:34,080 Speaker 2: than thanks. The incident commander warned that quicksand has a 50 00:02:34,080 --> 00:02:37,280 Speaker 2: good bite. The more people struggle, the deeper they go, 51 00:02:38,080 --> 00:02:40,520 Speaker 2: so one or two footsteps into that sand is really 52 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:44,200 Speaker 2: all it needs to initiate that initial stuck factor. Having 53 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:46,760 Speaker 2: a device that can communicate via satellite can sometimes be 54 00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:49,480 Speaker 2: the difference between life and death, Jake said, adding being 55 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:51,720 Speaker 2: there for someone in their time of need is one 56 00:02:51,760 --> 00:02:53,919 Speaker 2: of the things that keeps me coming back to this job. 57 00:02:54,639 --> 00:02:57,480 Speaker 2: Experts recommend that hikers and others who venture off like 58 00:02:57,560 --> 00:03:00,560 Speaker 2: this have at least two kinds of GPS satellite devices 59 00:03:00,919 --> 00:03:03,120 Speaker 2: so that they are not solely reliant on one device. 60 00:03:03,240 --> 00:03:05,920 Speaker 2: If Austin didn't have his GPS with him, it would 61 00:03:05,919 --> 00:03:07,280 Speaker 2: have been harder for him to get the help he 62 00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:09,640 Speaker 2: needed when he needed it. Thank God that he thought 63 00:03:09,680 --> 00:03:11,840 Speaker 2: to keep that with him, and that rescuers got to 64 00:03:11,919 --> 00:03:28,919 Speaker 2: him before he froze. Sixty seven year old California man 65 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:32,240 Speaker 2: saves his family from fire after jumping from second floor window. 66 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:36,840 Speaker 2: Written by Heather Rigglemann, read by Julie probost A sixty 67 00:03:36,880 --> 00:03:39,360 Speaker 2: seven year old California man saves his family from a 68 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:42,600 Speaker 2: fire after jumping from the second floor window. As a mom, 69 00:03:42,720 --> 00:03:45,040 Speaker 2: stories like this stop me in my tracks and send 70 00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:48,240 Speaker 2: my prayers straight upward. I picture that early morning hour, 71 00:03:48,720 --> 00:03:52,080 Speaker 2: the house quiet, everyone asleep, the world's still wrapped in darkness. 72 00:03:52,120 --> 00:03:54,720 Speaker 2: I imagine the sudden smell of smoke, the panic rising 73 00:03:54,760 --> 00:03:57,840 Speaker 2: in a mother's chest when danger finds its way inside 74 00:03:57,880 --> 00:04:00,600 Speaker 2: the place that's supposed to be the safest. And I 75 00:04:00,640 --> 00:04:04,600 Speaker 2: thank God for a father named Otanel Gamez, whose courage 76 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:08,120 Speaker 2: became the difference between tragedy and life. On December fifth, 77 00:04:08,280 --> 00:04:10,640 Speaker 2: in Santa Anna, California, a fire broke out in the 78 00:04:10,640 --> 00:04:14,080 Speaker 2: Gomez's family home around one thirty a m. Smoke and 79 00:04:14,120 --> 00:04:16,400 Speaker 2: heat filled the house so quickly that the family couldn't 80 00:04:16,480 --> 00:04:19,880 Speaker 2: escape through the door upstairs. Trapped and running out of options, 81 00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:23,359 Speaker 2: Otanel made a decision no parent ever hopes to face. 82 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:25,360 Speaker 2: At sixty seven years old, he climbed out of the 83 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:28,560 Speaker 2: second story window, dropped onto a patio cover, then jumped 84 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:32,080 Speaker 2: nearly nine feet to the ground below, not to save himself, 85 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:34,720 Speaker 2: but to save everyone else. As a mother, my heart 86 00:04:34,760 --> 00:04:36,640 Speaker 2: tightens at the thought of him grabbing a ladder and 87 00:04:36,720 --> 00:04:39,280 Speaker 2: running back towards the flames. One by one, he helped 88 00:04:39,279 --> 00:04:42,000 Speaker 2: his family escape. His wife, his eleven year old son, 89 00:04:42,120 --> 00:04:45,159 Speaker 2: his adult son, an elderly woman. Even their small dog 90 00:04:45,200 --> 00:04:49,719 Speaker 2: managed to escape alive. Fire officials later described him standing 91 00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:53,000 Speaker 2: on the ladder knocking on his young son's window while 92 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:55,760 Speaker 2: the child's left, his voice calm by urgent, as smoke 93 00:04:55,839 --> 00:05:00,240 Speaker 2: thickened around them. He kept speaking, reassuring, steady, exact bactly 94 00:05:00,279 --> 00:05:03,320 Speaker 2: what a child needs when fear threatens to overwhelm. That 95 00:05:03,440 --> 00:05:07,080 Speaker 2: detail undoes me, because that's what parents do, even when 96 00:05:07,120 --> 00:05:10,720 Speaker 2: everything is burning. They become calm. When asked afterward about 97 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:14,480 Speaker 2: what mattered most Watanall didn't speak about bravery or heroism. 98 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:17,320 Speaker 2: He spoke like a parent who knows what truly counts 99 00:05:17,640 --> 00:05:20,440 Speaker 2: to me. It's the family. We're alive. That's it, he said. 100 00:05:20,480 --> 00:05:23,800 Speaker 2: The other thing is just material. His daughter later shared 101 00:05:23,839 --> 00:05:26,440 Speaker 2: the growing up, she never saw her father panic, she 102 00:05:26,560 --> 00:05:29,160 Speaker 2: never felt uncertain or afraid because of him, And now 103 00:05:29,200 --> 00:05:32,120 Speaker 2: watching this story unfold, it's clear that the same steadiness 104 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:35,159 Speaker 2: carried them through the worst night of their lives. The 105 00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:38,000 Speaker 2: family lost their home and everything in it. Now they 106 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:41,560 Speaker 2: were rebuilding from the ground up. But they were rebuilding together, alive, 107 00:05:41,800 --> 00:05:44,920 Speaker 2: holding one another, breathing, and that matters more than walls 108 00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:47,760 Speaker 2: ever could. As a mother, I imagine the relief that 109 00:05:47,920 --> 00:05:50,760 Speaker 2: must have flooded the yard as each person climbed down 110 00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:54,320 Speaker 2: the ladder, the prayers whispered without words, the tears that 111 00:05:54,360 --> 00:05:57,159 Speaker 2: came once everyone was safe. I imagine the kind of 112 00:05:57,160 --> 00:06:00,920 Speaker 2: gratitude that changes you forever. Thank you God for courage 113 00:06:00,960 --> 00:06:03,400 Speaker 2: like this. Thank you for the protection from the fire. 114 00:06:03,800 --> 00:06:06,520 Speaker 2: Thank you for reminding us that even in the darkest hours, 115 00:06:06,560 --> 00:06:09,760 Speaker 2: you are still saving, still guarding, still holding families together. 116 00:06:10,839 --> 00:06:14,720 Speaker 2: Psalm forty six y' one God is our refuge and strength. 117 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:16,200 Speaker 2: And ever present help in trouble. 118 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:29,200 Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening to Story Behind podcast. 119 00:06:29,680 --> 00:06:32,000 Speaker 1: We're really glad you joined us for this week's story. 120 00:06:32,760 --> 00:06:35,159 Speaker 1: To see photos and videos that may have been referenced 121 00:06:35,200 --> 00:06:38,039 Speaker 1: in this episode, check out the links and the show notes, 122 00:06:38,600 --> 00:06:41,520 Speaker 1: and if you enjoyed what you heard today, subscribe to 123 00:06:41,560 --> 00:06:45,120 Speaker 1: our podcast and please tell a friend about us. 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