Izzy Davila Honored for Lake Rescue
During a recent Cherokee County Board of Commissioners meeting, Cherokee County Fire Chief Tim Prather presented a Citizen Life Saving Award to Izzy Davila.
On Feb. 2, Davila launched his boat from Victoria Landing for an afternoon of fishing on Lake Allatoona. His plans changed quickly as he approached an area on the lake where he noticed a boat driving in circles and realized no one was on board. As he moved closer, he noticed another boat had capsized and realized there had been a boating accident. He immediately tried calling 911, but was unsuccessful, so he called his wife Judy and asked her to call 911 for help.
Davila searched the area for 15 minutes and decided to tow the capsized boat to the shoreline. As he was moving around the boat, he heard a voice calling for help, but he couldn’t see anyone. As he reached the end of the boat, he saw a man holding on to the capsized boat, begging for help and saying “he couldn’t hold on any longer.” When Davila realized he was not able to pull the man out of the water, he gave the man his floatation device, tying it to him to keep him from going under. He tied the man to his boat and pulled him toward the shoreline, where his feet could touch bottom. Another boater volunteered to take the man back to Little River Marina for medical treatment. The Cherokee County 911 center finally contacted Davila, who directed them to the scene of the accident.
Unfortunately, there were two boaters who didn’t survive the accident. The water temperature was approximately 55 degrees, extremely dangerous for human survival if exposed for even short periods of time.
Chief Prather told the commissioners and those attending that this is the first Citizen Life Saving Award that he has presented since being chief. The plaque he presented to Davila read: “He saved a life that cold day in February on Lake Allatoona. For this, I think it is only appropriate that Mr. Davila should be recognized for his heroic efforts.”
Leave a Reply