Scott Ruskan, a rescue swimmer for the US Coast Guard, was part of the coordination efforts to rescue people at Camp Mystic which was caught in the deadly floods that happened in Texas on Friday, July 4.
He explained how he made it to the scene
Speaking to Good Morning America on Monday, July 7, the 26-year-old Coast Guard swimmer said he “happened to be on the duty crew” the moment that the U.S. Coast Guard’s Air Station Corpus Christi in Texas received the call about the floods.
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A flight to Hunt, Texas should’ve taken an hour but it took eight
Ruskan noted that a flight from Corpus Christi, Texas, to Hunt, Texas should’ve taken about an hour but due to “some pretty serious weather” it took between seven to eight hours instead.
He said the weather had led to “some of the worst flying we’ve ever dealt with.”
They landed at Camp Mystic
The Coast Guard landed at Camp Mystic, a girl’s camp located along the Guadalupe River where Ruskan got to evaluate the situation.
“We decided to leave me on scene at Camp Mystic. That was kind of our main triage site we were trying to help out with,” he recalled. This was in an attempt to free up space on the rescue helicopter for victims.
He said he was the only responder there
Ruskan went on, “I kind of discovered I was the only person there as far as first responders go. So I had about 200, kids mostly. All scared, terrified, cold, having probably the worst day of their life.”
“And I just kind of needed to triage them, get them to a higher level of care and get ’em off the flood zone.”
The responder explained how they started operating
“We kind of came up with two different landing zones,” Ruskan said, explaining that he worked with members of the United States Army National Guard to get people to safety.
“There was one off an archery field and then one in a soccer field. We were able to kind of land those 60s [rescue helicopters] in there. I was kind of the main guy as far as grabbing people.”
He was guiding groups of 10 and 15 children
Ruskan explained that he was guiding groups of 10 to 15 children and some adults with the goal of flying them to a different landing zone that “was kind of safe and had more first responders than just myself.”
Ruskan put trust in his training
“I really just kind of relied on the training we get. Coast Guard rescue swimmers get some of the highest level training in the world. So really just kind of relied on that, just knowing that any of the rescue swimmers in the Coast Guard would have done the exact same if not better than me,” Ruskan said.
The kids at the scene also added to his encouragement
Ruskan explained that knowing that the kids at the scene were relying on his skills pushed him to perform better. “They don’t really know what my experience is or my rank or my age,” he said.
“They just know, ‘Hey this guy is a professional, and he’s here to help us.’ And I kind of had to live up to that standard.”
Ruskan said the kids on the ground were heroes
The responder is being hailed as a hero, but he’s directing the heroism to the kids.
“The real heroes, I think, were the kids on the ground,” Ruskan said. “Those guys are heroic, and they were dealing with some of the worst times of their lives, and they were staying strong. That helped inspire me to get in there and help them out.”
He had just completed his training 6 months prior
Ruskan joined the Coast Guard in 2021, according to the New York Post. He also shared he had completed his rescue swimmer training only six months prior to the Texas floods.
The search and rescue for victims of the floods still remains, with the death toll surpassing 100, according to latest estimates by CNN.
