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CNN Sunday Morning
Interview With Tim Pike
Aired September 21, 2003 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: A dangerous mission to the southern most tip of the world. A rescue plane took off this morning from the South Pole, carrying a sick worker from an American research station. The plane arrived at the South Pole station after being delayed for several days by bad weather. The flight is to arrive later today at a British air station. The rescue is being done in total darkness. The sun doesn't come out -- come up at the South Pole, that is, until Tuesday.
And a risky rescue in the teeth of Hurricane Isabel nearly claimed three rescuers. They were trying to reach stranded victims near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Their rescue truck got caught in high water. That is when the trouble began. Coast Guard Petty Officer Tim Pike was one of those who was there. He joins us now live by phone from his home in Chesapeake, Virginia with more on the harrowing ordeal. Petty Officer Pike, boy, I bet you are glad to be home.
PETTY OFFICER TIM PIKE, U.S. COAST GUARD: Yes, I am, Carol. Good morning.
COLLINS: Actually, it's Heidi. But that's OK, I go by many names.
PIKE: Sorry, Heidi.
COLLINS: Hey, can you tell us what happened here? You aren't normally the rescue guy. I know you're with the Coast Guard. But you usually go to shoot video of these rescues. Tell us about that.
PIKE: That's correct. I'm with Coast Guard public affairs. I was at the emergency operations center and heard of a potential rescue. And we thought maybe there was going to be a Coast Guard helicopter involved, so I volunteered to go out and possibly shoot the video of the rescue and assist, if possible, since I've also been trained in search and rescue.
COLLINS: Right. Now, the call came in 911. What was the situation?
PIKE: The situation we heard was there were three people on top of the roof of their vehicle that were stranded.
COLLINS: OK. And let me ask you this. Was this in an area, if I understand correctly, where these folks should have been evacuated already, or should have left? PIKE: That's correct. The Coast Guard and other emergency services had encouraged the people to heed the warnings that were issued of Hurricane Isabel. And when we do this, this will significantly risk the people losing their lives. So, yes, the warnings were out there. We were encouraging people to get out of there.
COLLINS: All right. We'll talk about that in a minute. We are looking at pictures right now of this five-ton truck that you used to get there with the other two rescuers. This thing is mangled. Tell us about how it happened.
PIKE: Well, when we were stuck, we had lost power in the truck. The waves started hitting us relatively hard. We had called an emergency operation center with the only cell phone that we had that was working. And eventually, after we hung up with them, one very large wave had hit us and eventually started pushing us over. That's when myself and the two air county sheriff's deputies, Melvin and George, began to get out of the vehicle as quickly as we can. Luckily all three of us barely got out in time. We had lines tied up to the truck in the event it did roll over so we were able to grab on to those lines after it turned the first time.
COLLINS: Yes, it sounds like, at least from the paperwork I have here, three times that thing rolled. So it just gives you a really good idea of how powerful those water surges really were. Let me ask you, how do you think you survived?
PIKE: Heidi, I think we survived by sticking together and keeping our morale up, talking with each other, making sure we were all OK. Also, our training kicked in, the training that I have had with the Coast Guard, and the training that the sheriff's department had given Melvin and George. And our will to survive.
COLLINS: Petty Officer Pike, are you angry that the three people who needed your help didn't leave when they were supposed to?
PIKE: Not angry. Just wish they would have heeded the warnings and making sure they kept themselves in a safe position so that lives of other people weren't at risk as well.
COLLINS: Well, good work. Glad you're safe. Coast Guard Petty Officer Tim Pike, appreciate your story this morning. Thank you so much.
PIKE: Thank you, Heidi.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired September 21, 2003 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: A dangerous mission to the southern most tip of the world. A rescue plane took off this morning from the South Pole, carrying a sick worker from an American research station. The plane arrived at the South Pole station after being delayed for several days by bad weather. The flight is to arrive later today at a British air station. The rescue is being done in total darkness. The sun doesn't come out -- come up at the South Pole, that is, until Tuesday.
And a risky rescue in the teeth of Hurricane Isabel nearly claimed three rescuers. They were trying to reach stranded victims near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Their rescue truck got caught in high water. That is when the trouble began. Coast Guard Petty Officer Tim Pike was one of those who was there. He joins us now live by phone from his home in Chesapeake, Virginia with more on the harrowing ordeal. Petty Officer Pike, boy, I bet you are glad to be home.
PETTY OFFICER TIM PIKE, U.S. COAST GUARD: Yes, I am, Carol. Good morning.
COLLINS: Actually, it's Heidi. But that's OK, I go by many names.
PIKE: Sorry, Heidi.
COLLINS: Hey, can you tell us what happened here? You aren't normally the rescue guy. I know you're with the Coast Guard. But you usually go to shoot video of these rescues. Tell us about that.
PIKE: That's correct. I'm with Coast Guard public affairs. I was at the emergency operations center and heard of a potential rescue. And we thought maybe there was going to be a Coast Guard helicopter involved, so I volunteered to go out and possibly shoot the video of the rescue and assist, if possible, since I've also been trained in search and rescue.
COLLINS: Right. Now, the call came in 911. What was the situation?
PIKE: The situation we heard was there were three people on top of the roof of their vehicle that were stranded.
COLLINS: OK. And let me ask you this. Was this in an area, if I understand correctly, where these folks should have been evacuated already, or should have left? PIKE: That's correct. The Coast Guard and other emergency services had encouraged the people to heed the warnings that were issued of Hurricane Isabel. And when we do this, this will significantly risk the people losing their lives. So, yes, the warnings were out there. We were encouraging people to get out of there.
COLLINS: All right. We'll talk about that in a minute. We are looking at pictures right now of this five-ton truck that you used to get there with the other two rescuers. This thing is mangled. Tell us about how it happened.
PIKE: Well, when we were stuck, we had lost power in the truck. The waves started hitting us relatively hard. We had called an emergency operation center with the only cell phone that we had that was working. And eventually, after we hung up with them, one very large wave had hit us and eventually started pushing us over. That's when myself and the two air county sheriff's deputies, Melvin and George, began to get out of the vehicle as quickly as we can. Luckily all three of us barely got out in time. We had lines tied up to the truck in the event it did roll over so we were able to grab on to those lines after it turned the first time.
COLLINS: Yes, it sounds like, at least from the paperwork I have here, three times that thing rolled. So it just gives you a really good idea of how powerful those water surges really were. Let me ask you, how do you think you survived?
PIKE: Heidi, I think we survived by sticking together and keeping our morale up, talking with each other, making sure we were all OK. Also, our training kicked in, the training that I have had with the Coast Guard, and the training that the sheriff's department had given Melvin and George. And our will to survive.
COLLINS: Petty Officer Pike, are you angry that the three people who needed your help didn't leave when they were supposed to?
PIKE: Not angry. Just wish they would have heeded the warnings and making sure they kept themselves in a safe position so that lives of other people weren't at risk as well.
COLLINS: Well, good work. Glad you're safe. Coast Guard Petty Officer Tim Pike, appreciate your story this morning. Thank you so much.
PIKE: Thank you, Heidi.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
