Firefighter who saved pair shuns spotlight
BADDECK — Donna Grover says many images from Feb. 17, 2020, are indelibly imprinted in her mind. But one that stands out is of a man running toward a cascading waterfall and without hesitation jumping in to help keep her daughter and husband from being swept away to their probable deaths.
“I just remember him coming across the bridge and he was getting his clothes off — I remember him dropping his radio and taking his heavy clothes off, and he jumped in there. I was in shock that he did that. Really shocked.”
That man was Scott Buchanan, a local volunteer firefighter who was first on the scene after Grover, her partner Donnie Bishop, along with their daughter Melanie Drummond and young grandsons Rowan and Ambrose, set out for a Family Day holiday hike through Uisge Ban Falls Provincial Park near Baddeck. They had stopped near the falls for some hot chocolate when Drummond fell through a layer of ice into the rushing water about seven feet below.
Bishop tried using a ski pole to pull her to safety but the ice broke again, sending him plunging into the frigid waters with Drummond.
As they braced each other in the current, Grover took the belt from her coat and threw it to Drummond, who managed to wrap it around her wrist. Twenty minutes later, a couple walking their dog happened upon the scene and used their dog's leash to help keep the pair from being sucked down under the ice. However, Grover doesn't believe they would have been able to hold Drummond and Bishop much longer.
That's when Buchanan arrived and Bishop, who was beginning to lose consciousness, said it was precisely the right time.
“He jumped in right beside me and I remember thinking, ‘ Thank God someone is here,' but after that I don't remember too much,” he recalled.
“He's a hero — he saved my life and my daughter's.”
PRIVATE PERSON
However, if true heroism requires a certain amount of humility, Buchanan certainly fits the description.
Despite numerous attempts, he declined to speak to the Cape Breton Post about the incident, something that doesn't surprise his local councillor Perla Macleod.
She knows Buchanan, who is the local plumber, his wife and two young children.
Macleod described Buchanan as a “great guy” who is “very private.”
“But when you know him he will help you with anything,” she said.
“He is a hero. He is very important in the community — he's a volunteer firefighter. He is very into the community, he's selfless and doesn't want to be in the spotlight but he has a huge heart. He loves his family and his community. We love him.”
Victoria County council wanted to recognize Buchanan for his bravery but he humbly declined.
Warden Bruce Morrison said Buchanan is “quite shy,” despite saving two lives that day.
“It was a matter of life and death and he dealt with it in a very professional way and put his own life at risk,” Morrison said.
“He risked his own life and that's what volunteer firefighters do and that's why we have such great respect for them. This is just a perfect example of how they respond to these situations. It's a sense of duty to them and that's why we have special people to do it.”
Grover and Bishop know that all too well.
Bishop and Drummond both suffered severe hypothermia and serious bumps and bruises, while Bishop's right arm was broken during the ordeal and he has since only regained about 75 per cent function.
“I can't thank him enough,” he said. Grover said she's certain things would have turned out tragically if Buchanan hadn't risked his own life.
“If it weren't for him, I would have lost them — I know I would have. There is nothing on this planet that I could give him to thank him for it,” she said. “Oh my God, if it weren't for him, things would have been completely different. To me, he's like an angel is what he's like.”