 A life was saved due to a quick response from the Williamson Fire Department. The fire department received a call Thursday afternoon of a possible drowning in the Tuck Fork River beside the Williamson Water Treatment Plant. A group of kayakers were paddling along the river when one of them became trapped in a current caused by a low dam used by the plant to collect water. The current with that under dam will just hold you there, and that makes it very, very hard for us to do a rescue. Even though it was a dangerous situation, the Williamson Fire Department was able to successfully rescue the victim from the water. He was alert and awake and was strong enough to reach out and try to grab some things so immediately we started deploying our life safety ropes, just throwing them to him from both sides. The Williamson Fire Department is minutes away from the Tuck Fork River causing a speedy arrival time, and in this situation, time was critical. Once we got him to the bank, he was really cyanotic, deprived of oxygen, he had taken in a lot of water, so I don't think he would have made it very much longer. Since local public pools are not opening this summer, officials feel it important to become more up to date with river rescues. A lot of people are going to try to take on some other recreational activities like these kayaks. I've been seeing them a lot in town, so we've also discussed after this call here at the station of doing some more training on river rescues. The Williamson Fire Department was assisted by the Belfry Volunteer Fire Department. Reporting in Williamson for EKB News, I'm Shelby Steele.