Seabees from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 3 and the 31st Seabee Readiness Group (SRG) helped to rescue a family involved in a car wreck on Highway 101 in Buellton, Calif., Jan. 12, 2012.
Equipment Operator 1st Class (SCW) Frankie Cruz, Construction Mechanic 2nd Class (SCW) Michael McCracken, and Equipment Operator Constructionman Clinton Roberts of NMCB 3 along with Construction Mechanic 2nd Class (SCW) Shawn Legg, Construction Mechanic 2nd Class (SCW) Benjamin Mead, and Construction Mechanic 3rd Class (SCW) James Winters from the 31SRG helped to rescue the family of the wrecked vehicle by operating a forklift to keep the car from sliding off the bridge while rescue crews extracted the family of three.
“As the fire department was cutting the car to get the family out, it kept on slipping over the bridge and faced a 100 foot fall,” said McCracken, the forklift operator. “I talked to the fire captain in charge and he was excited to hear that we had an extendable-boom forklift just 200 to 300 feet behind the wreck and he said to go get it.”
