Article appeared Jan. 20, 2008, on page 1A

To find the identities of three boys who nearly drowned in an icy pond, I walked from door to door in a nearby neighborhood. After a few conversations, someone directed me to the home of one of the boys. The boy said he had learned how to survive in near freezing water from a reality TV show.

Good Morning America did a segment on the story two days later.

VESTAL -- Three boys narrowly escaped drowning in an icy pond after help from a serendipitous jogger, a quick response from emergency personnel and advice gleaned from a television reality show.

Three Vestal boys, two of them 11 years old and the other 14, were playing on the pond at the Binghamton University Nature Preserve around 1 p.m. Saturday. Only about 2 inches of ice covered the water -- dangerously thin, according to emergency personnel on the scene. The combined weight of the three boys was enough to crack the ice.

"We just fell through," 11-year-old Samuel Sejan said. "We didn't even hear a crack. As soon as I fell in, I couldn't feel a thing."

The chest-high water was close to freezing, cold enough to be fatal, according to Vestal Fire Chief Doug Rose. "This could have been really bad," Rose said.

Fighting the shock of the frigid water, Samuel remembered advice from the Discovery Channel program, "Man vs. Wild with Bear Grylls." The show's host told viewers that if they fall through the ice, to take off their water-logged clothes and move quickly, Samuel said.

Samuel stripped off his pants, shoes, socks and coat. He pulled himself from the icy water and ran to call for help. There was little he could do for his two friends, other than call for help, Samuel said.

While Samuel was running full speed through the nature preserve, Robert Golmulka, 56, of Vestal, was jogging on an access road about 400 yards from the pond when he spotted something moving in the water.

Golmulka, chief financial officer at United Health Services, said after running down to the pond he realized there were children in the water.

"Really, there was no way to get at them because they were so far out," he said.

Instead of attempting a risky rescue, Golmulka ran back toward university dormitories, flagged down a motorist and used his cell phone to call 911.

He then returned to the pond, where he could do nothing but wait and feel helpless watching the boys struggle in the water.

"My fear was that I didn't get there in time," he said.

The expected survival time for a person in water between 32.5 and 40 degrees is 30 to 90 minutes according to the U.S. Search and Rescue Task Force.

Vestal police, state university police and Vestal firefighters were first on the scene. Vestal officers Keith King and Michael Phelps, along with Vestal Assistant Fire Chief Chuck Paffie, ran a quarter-mile to the pond carrying rescue equipment, according to Vestal police.

The other 11-year-old boy was crawling out of the icy pond when emergency personnel arrived at the shore, Vestal Police Lt. Darryl Lindsay said. The 14-year-old boy was still in the water.

"The older boy was in a panic state," Lindsay said. "Time was of the essence."

The officers threw the boy a Res Q Disc, a Frisbee-like disk attached to a 100-foot rope, which Vestal officers carry in their vehicles. King, Phelps and Paffie coaxed the boy toward the rope. When he grabbed it, the three pulled him to shore, Lindsay said.

"The equipment was used as it should be," Lindsay said. "And it saved a life."

King carried the boy to the ambulance.

Parents of the 11- and 14-year-old asked that their children's identities not be released.

All three children were taken by Harpur's Ferry and Vestal ambulances to Wilson Regional Medical Center in Johnson City. None of the boys suffered life-threatening injuries, Rose said.

Samuel's legs were red, cut and bruised from falling on the ice, but the feeling had returned, he said.

"We're so lucky," said John Sejan, Samuel's father and a Broome County Election Commissioner. Sejan extended his thanks to the jogger.

"He's a hero. He saved two lives as far as I'm concerned," said Sejan, who also commended emergency personnel whose quick response averted a likely fatality.

"We can't thank them enough," Sejan said. "I don't think they (the boys) know how lucky they are."