DEAL ISLAND, Md. — Fire Chief Donald Ford’s phone has been ringing like never before.
Things just haven’t been the same since an early Wednesday morning call put him and his department in the national spotlight.
STORY: Man swims 5 hours to save his family
CNN, NBC’s Today Show, CBS News, Baltimore’s ABC affiliate — they are among the news outlets clamoring to hear about his role in the rescue of a family after their boat partially sunk in Tangier Sound.
Ford’s phone was the first one dialed after one of the boaters, John F. Riggs, swam five hours in darkness and against a flood tide to make it to shore. Ford told the caller, an occupant of the first home the Rock Hall, Md., man found, to call 911. Then he set to work organizing a search party.
After a two-hour search that included assistance from Riggs himself, the Maryland Natural Resources Police and others, the four remaining boaters were found still clinging to the upside-down Carolina Skiff.
Read more on this story at USA Today
