PHOTOS — ‘I Was Praying’: Heroic KY Firefighter Rescues Woman Dangling Nearly 100 Feet Above Ohio River

A Kentucky firefighter is being celebrated for making the daring rescue of a woman whose truck crashed over a bridge’s guard rails, leaving her dangling nearly 100 feet above the Ohio River.

CBS News captured harrowing footage showing 29-year-old Bryce Carden of the Louisville Fire Department carrying a female tractor-trailer driver back to safety after she was trapped in the truck’s cab for 40 minutes.

The near-disaster occurred on Friday afternoon when the truck became involved in a four-vehicle wreck while heading northbound on Clark Memorial Bridge. After crossing the opposite lane and crashing through the rail, the semi became wedged between the bridge’s beams. 

The dramatic video shows Louisville first responders conducting a careful rescue procedure as a group of firefighters stand on the bridge operating a rope attached to Carden, who specializes in “high-angle rescues,” according to Fox News.

As Carden held the driver on the way back up, the hero said, “She was praying a lot, and I was praying right there with her”:

I was not nervous at all going over the edge because I knew that they had me on the top side. Once I reached her, she was super calm, collected, and helped me do what I needed to do to get her to safety, essentially. And it all worked out for the best, and we’ll go back to quarters and get ready to do it again if we have to.

“All the credit goes right here,” Louisville Fire Chief Brian O’Neill told reporters after the rescue. “These are some serious heroes. This was some really professional, well-practiced, well-trained stuff.”

“These men and women make me so proud,” he continued. “This motivates the heck out of me every day.”

Calling out Carden specifically, O’Neill said, “This guy is probably one of the nicest, happiest guys that you’ll ever want to meet in your life, and he is the exact right person to put down there to try to keep that patient calm.”

Both the chief and Carden referred to the operation as the rescue of a lifetime.

“This is very much a worst-case scenario and something that you don’t expect to happen,” said O’Neill. “This is a once-in-a-career kind of thing.”

“We’ve definitely done a few crazy things, but yes, this tops it so far. Like I said, we trained for this situation probably a hundred times, but they actually put it in action. It felt good,” Carden added.

Two people in one of the other vehicles involved in the crash were also reportedly taken to the University of Louisville Hospital.

Clark Memorial Bridge is still closed following the close call.