IRMO, S.C. — Over the weekend, a Blythewood family survived a boating accident thanks to community members acting fast.
A symbol of patriotism: on the Fourth of July, that could mean anything between hot dogs, flags, and even entering battle. The Burleson family knows a little about that.
"It was very scary and traumatic," Brandon Burleson said.
The family moved to the area in December for the military.
"Husband got stationed here," his wife Nichole Burleson said. "Got stationed here to be a drill sergeant."
On Saturday, the family celebrated the freedom Brandon protects daily in the Lake Murray Fourth of July boat parade. But not long into it, they found themselves in a fight for their lives.
"We noticed pretty immediately that all of the spectator boaters were just going really fast and very close, even cutting off some of the participants in the parade. And it was just making crazy waves and wake, and they were getting really high," Nichole said.
In a matter of minutes, the Burleson's boat was sinking. Usually fighting for others, Brandon found strangers jumping to save him and his family.
"The amount of people that immediately jumped into action and the water and started helping was amazing," Nichole said. "There was a boat that got him and my son out, and another boat got me and my other son out."
She said one of the women who rescued them wrote a Facebook post, and community members quickly offered assistance. She added that even women allowed the family to use her car after losing their keys and phones with the boat. But the neighborly support didn't end on the water, but also underneath. Usually, a boat recovery process ranges between 5 and 10 thousand dollars. But for the Burlesons, it's free.
"We got a set of coordinates from DNR, and we posted that we were going to go out. We knew there was a lot of outpouring from the community, and so we did post that we were gonna go out on Tuesday morning at nine and run some GPS searches in some of the locations ... where the boat supposedly went down," Rick Kahn, owner of the TowBoat U.S. Lake Murray, said.
He added that the next steps are having divers go down and retrieve the boat.
But, for now, Nichole Burleson said they'd be enjoying Lake Murray from the shores.
"Our kids are like, no, they don't want to go on the water. They said they were scared already. They were scared of the boat regardless," Nichole said. "We always go nice and slow because my son with autism, he can't do anything fast. It really messes with him, so for this to happen - this was a nail in the coffin for boating."
The Burlesons add that they are grateful to be alive and to everyone who has reached out to help.