Croton Falls Fire Department leads rescue of missing four-year-old North Salem boy

The Croton Falls Fire Department led a multi-department search for a missing four-year-old boy Sunday night. The boy was reported missing from a residence off of Hardscrabble Road in North Salem shortly after 7:30 p.m.. Eight different emergency services units responded to the scene, with nearly 40 individuals contributing to the effort.

Croton Falls Fire Department 1st Assistant Chief Jeffery Daday led the search effort as incident commander. CFFD crews were dispatched at 7:38 p.m. and arrived on the scene shortly before 8:00 p.m. The department coordinated with the New York State Police, Pound Ridge Fire Department, Goldens Bridge Fire Department, Ridgefield Fire Department, Yorktown Fire Department and Westchester County Department of Emergency Services to help locate the child. Crews deployed multiple thermal imaging cameras, a drone with infrared and night vision capabilities, a utility vehicle and a helicopter to scour the area near the boy’s home, which encompassed a large field and a couple ponds.

“We were trying to cover as much ground as we could,” Daday said. The New York State Police located the boy during a secondary search of the property, shortly before 8:40 p.m. Members of the North Salem Volunteer Ambulance Corps immediately conducted an evaluation of the child and determined that he was okay.

“We are big supporters of ‘call early, call fast,’" Daday said of situations in which someone may be feared missing. “We can always return resources and say thanks for coming.” In Sunday’s incident, the speed and breadth of resources deployed to find the boy helped to locate him safely. The outside temperature at the time the child was located was just 43 degrees.

“It was a well coordinated effort among all the resources,” Daday said. “We all worked well together and it was a happy turnout.”