On Sunday, March 16, 2003 at 0342 Hours (3:42 AM PST), ten Companies of Los Angeles Firefighters, one LAFD Rescue Ambulance, two LAFD Helicopters, the Heavy Rescue Company, one EMS District Captain and one Battalion Officer Command Team, all under the direction of Assistant Chief Michael Fulmis responded to a River Rescue in the Arroyo Seco south of Avenue 43 in Montecito Heights.
Firefighters arrived quickly on scene to discover an overturned full-sized pickup truck nearly submerged within a rain-swollen flood control channel alongside the Pasadena Freeway. With LAFD Helicopters en route, ground-based Firefighters commenced efforts to secure and stabilize the vehicle, which was swept nearly a quarter-mile downstream by the storm-fed current.
As the vehicle came to rest in the river, an aerial ladder was quickly extended across the channel, allowing a Firefighter clad in Swift Water Rescue gear to secure a cable to the underside of the two-tone blue and silver pickup. The Firefighter was hoisted away as a massive winch on the LAFD Heavy Rescue Unit pulled the vehicle from the arroyo.
Trapped within the crushed and submerged cab of the truck was the driver and sole occupant, a 33 year-old male who was declared deceased at scene.
After an exhaustive hour long foul-weather downstream search using flotation markers as well as helicopter-based infrared imaging and 30-milllion candlepower search lights, it was determined that no other victims were to be rescued.
The Los Angeles County Coroner
