On Wednesday, January 5, 2005 at 1717 hours, thirteen Companies of Los Angeles Firefighters, two LAFD Rescue Ambulances, two LAFD Helicopters, one LAFD Heavy Rescue Company and two Chief Officer Command Teams under the direction of Battalion Chief Jack Wise responded to a River Rescue in the Pacoima Wash near Laurel Canyon Boulevard in Pacoima.
Firefighters both on the ground and in the air arrived quickly to commence a search for a boy reportedly swept away by the shallow yet fierce current. The concrete-lined urban river, fed by recent storms, had more than a foot of rapidly moving cold water and a mossy bottom, enough to entrap, immobilize and imperil even the strongest of adult swimmers.
The ten-year old victim, clad in dark clothing at dusk, was spotted by Firefighters clinging to a concrete bridge abutment below Laurel Canyon Boulevard. As an LAFD Helicopter illuminated the scene with a 30 million candlepower spotlight, additional LAFD rescue crews were staged downstream. Using an LAFD Aerial Ladder in a crane-like fashion, a harnessed Firefighter was lowered 25 feet into the vertical walled channel, where he tethered the wet and shivering boy, offering him comfort and reassurance during their joint ascent to the roadway above.
Conscious yet exhibiting signs of hypothermia, the youth, who suffered mild scrapes and bruises, was quickly wrapped in warm blankets and placed in a waiting LAFD ambulance, where he was stripped of his wet clothing, offered emotional support and aggressively re-warmed during ambulance transport to Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, where he arrived in fair condition.
Until a confirmation was made that there were no other victims, the second LAFD Helicopter continued aerial reconnaissance of the region. No other victims were discovered and there were no other injuries.
