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Upper Pine pulls car out of wet landing

A crew from the Upper Pine Fire Protection District tows a car out of a pond early Sunday in the 19000 block of County Road 501, near Vallecito. The driver escaped with non-life-threatening injuries.

A driver escaped with non-life-threatening injuries after plunging into a private pond early Sunday near Vallecito.

The incident was reported at 1:31 a.m. just west of Vallecito Creek in the 19000 block of County Road 501.

“She’s lucky she went into the pond where she did,” said Chief Bruce Evans of Upper Pine Fire Protection District, which responded to the call. “About 25 feet down the road, she would have ended up in water that was 15 feet deep, and the car would have been completely underwater.”

The young woman had to kick the window out to exit her vehicle after it flooded, he said. She then made her way to a nearby house to call 911.

“She had a little hypothermia from going into the cold water in the middle of the night,” Evans said. “We wrenched the vehicle out of the water to look for other possible victims, and because we didn’t want the tow-truck driver to have to wade into the cold water or for oil or fluids from the car to pollute their nice fish pond.”

No immediate information was available on why the woman ended up in the pond.

The driver was transported to Mercy Regional Medical Center.

abutler@durangoherald.com



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