Canmore soccer coach, Florida teenager team up to save woman from Bow River

A quick-thinking teenagerand a brave soccer coach teamed up to rescue a woman from a fast and frigid river in Canmore earlier this week.

The woman had fallen into the Bow River in the mountain town and the teenaged girl, who was visiting from Florida, spotted her Tuesday night as the water swept her downstream.

• Canmore river rescue

The girlran for help and found Stephen Steele, who was coaching a soccer game nearby at Millennium Park.

"A young girl came running out to the middle of the field and she looked like she was in distress. You could tell pretty quickly that she was upset," he told the Calgary Eyeopener.

"And she said that there was somebody going down the river, and they were screaming for help. So I ran as fast as I could. Five seconds later, she's like, right coming down. And then, I was thinking, do I get a branch? What do I do?"

But Steele said he didn't actually have anytime to think.

"Really, at that point, I threw my phone out and I got in the water and grabbed her by the jacket and then just pulled her to shore and then just tried, really, to get her out of the water at that point," he said.

"She was really cold and she wasn't really conscious at that point."

Canmore's Fire Rescue team quickly got one of its jet boats in the river to help and arrived at the scene just as Steele rescued the woman, said ChiefWalter Gahler.

The woman was stabilized by EMS crews and taken to CanmoreGeneral Hospital in stable condition.

She was not wearing a life-jacketor personal floatation device (PFD).

It was just good fortune that Steele was able to wade into the river and grab her where he did, he said.

"I mean, I got lucky. She got lucky. Where I got in, it was moving, but it was very safe for me to be able to get in there and keep good footing," Steelesaid.

He added it was the Florida teen's quick work in getting help that made the rescue possible.

"She was really the catalyst for everything," he said.

"She took it upon herself to take it to the next step. And I think it's a huge thing for people to react and ask for help if they can, and not just take video on their phones. You know, she did something."

The fire chief says people should be very careful if they decide to go out on the Bow River, especially at this time of year. It's near its highest and fastest levels right now, and it's still very cold.

"There is far more force in the river than people anticipate," Gahler said.

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With files from theCalgary Eyeopener.