ALBANY — Albany firefighters rescued a teenage girl from the Sugar River under difficult circumstances after she got stuck at the bottom edge of the Albany dam July 12.

The call for an emergency water rescue came in just before 4 p.m., said Albany Police Chief Robert Ritter. He said the girl was not a customer of any of the local tubing companies and was with a group of people that had brought their own innertubes and tried to launch into the river at the bottom of the dam.

The swirling current from the dam sucked the girl and her tube to the middle of the river and kept her there. The level of the Sugar River is high right now due to recent heavy rains, making the currents faster and stronger at the dam.

“It’s a circling rotation of really high-force water. It just circled her. She just got hung up, and it wouldn’t kick her out. It was unreal. She was a brave little girl,” said Albany EMS Director Kari Hoesly.

“Our first concern was getting a life jacket on her,” said Albany Fire Chief Danny Mueller. “Once we had a life jacket on her we could pull her in to shore. Not that it’s easy to do. There’s a lot of force. People don’t understand the force that’s there. The water’s about a foot higher than normal. That puts more pressure downstream on the dam.”

Hoesly said the rescue took well over an hour. Firefighters were able to get the girl safely to shore but “it was a very difficult situation.”

“Once she came on shore, we ... did patient care with her. Then we had a firefighter that was still on the shoreline in a difficult place. He eventually did make it up on shore,” she said.

The girl and the firefighter were taken by ambulance to area hospitals, where they were treated and released right away, Hoesly said.

Mueller was still feeling shaken by the high-pressure situation the next morning. A crowd of onlookers “screaming and yelling and videotaping doesn’t make it easier,” he said.

In the end, the girl “was probably about as bruised up as the rest of us,” he said.

Hoesly said she was also feeling emotional about the rescue. Rescuing stranded swimmers like this is rare in Albany.

“I don’t know how many river rescues our fire department has had. ... It’s just not something you do every day. I don’t know when the last true water rescue has been,” she said.

Hoesly said it highlights the need for the fire department and first responders to keep on top of training for this type of scenario. She said Mueller also suggested signage to educate the public about the dangers of the river and dam.

The day after the rescue, Mueller said, the two additional innertubes the girl had with her were still stuck in the swirling currents at the bottom of the dam.

“The dam is by far the most dangerous spot on that river, especially with high water,” he said.