A 16-year-old girl who accidentally drove her SUV into the DuPage River this morning had to be rescued by a Plainfield firefighter in a cold-water suit, Deputy Fire Chief Jon Stratton said.

The Plainfield Fire Protection District received the call shortly after 6:30 a.m. and arrived to find the girl standing in the broken rear window of her Chevy Trailblazer, which was partially submerged in the river near the one-lane bridge at River and Renwick roads, Stratton said.

The firefighter, who was tethered to the shore, used a safety flotation device to rescue the teen, who was not believed to be injured but was taken to Edward Plainfield Medical Campus as a precaution, he said.

The teen told Will County Sheriff’s officers that she was driving to school “when she hit a slick spot in the road and lost control,” sheriff’s office spokeswoman Kathy Hoffmeyer said.

Foggy conditions and a bend in the road near the bridge helped contribute to the accident, she said. The water is very shallow in that section of the river, Hoffmeyer said, and the SUV was still running when officers arrived at the scene.

Firefighters returned to the scene later to help attach a hook to the SUV so it could be pulled from the river. River Road was closed for a short period of time to accommodate the rescue, Stratton said.

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