An off-duty volunteer firefighter helped find a missing 11-year-old girl alive on Thursday night.
Even though he wasn’t working, Cole Maksmytz knew he had to help when he found out about the missing girl.
“Something like that, you want to jump in and give a hand out and do what I can,” he told CTV News.
The father of four was on his way home from work in Foam Lake when he noticed a heavy police presence.
“It was just lit up out there with police, so I decided to see what was going on and see if they needed a hand with anything,” Maksmytz said.
Shortly before 15:15 p.m., the RCMP received a call from a distraught mother who reported her daughter had gone missing from their Bankend home. Police and local volunteers worked together to find the girl six kilometres away.
“It was getting to the point where it was getting very dangerous for her,” said Cpl. Rob King with the RCMP. “I think had the rescuers not found her when they did, if it had been a few hours later, we might be talking about a very different incident.”
The girl was alive, but collapsed in a snowbank.
She is in Grade 6 at Foam Lake Elementary School. Staff have notified students and parents.
“Our thoughts are with our student and her family as they recover from this traumatic event,” said Principal Cheryl Farrell. “We have discussed with our students about the event and how to stay safe in winter weather.”
Maksmytz says he doesn’t think he’s a hero, but he wants to make sure his children are aware of the dangers.
“I tell them, you know, you have to make sure somebody always knows where you are.”
The name of the girl has not been released. She is currently recovering at a hospital in Regina.
