By Teresa Thomas
Mail Tribune
SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Quincy Briscoe’s first rescue happened within hours of taking his national EMT certification exam.
The 21-year-old former Ashland High School student wrapped up his fall term at Santa Barbara City College last week, took his emergency medical technician exam Saturday in Los Angeles and was enjoying his first day of Christmas break surfing in San Diego, Calif., when he heard a cry for help.
Briscoe had been surfing for more than an hour Sunday and was about to call it a day, but decided to hit a few more waves. He paddled out into the surf and, just as a wave passed over him, caught the last syllable of “help.”
“I wasn’t sure if it was an actual cry for help until I saw a man’s arm come flailing out of the water, and I noticed he didn’t have his surfboard with him,” Briscoe said.
They were about 50 yards from shore, where the water was about 30 feet deep, and the waves were about 6 to 8 feet tall and coming in sets of four.
Despite a surge of adrenaline, Briscoe managed to keep his calm — thanks to his EMT training — and paddled about 15 yards to where a surfer was being pummeled by the waves. The man wasn’t just distressed, he was in agony and couldn’t catch his breath, Briscoe said.
“We were in the crash zone, and the waves were right on top of us,” he recalled. “I grabbed onto his arm, and we went through the washing machine, but I managed to hold on.”
Briscoe sandwiched the man between himself and the surfboard and got him to where they could touch bottom. The man collapsed, and another surfer helped Briscoe carry him to shore.
Briscoe’s dad, Ashland photographer Christopher Briscoe, was taking pictures of surfers from Crystal Pier nearby and was surprised to see his son in the white water “hugging some guy.” He said he used his 600-millimeter telephoto lens to figure out what was going on.
“At first, I thought it was a reunion with a college buddy, but once I saw what was going on, I was alarmed and took a few frames and then ran down the pier and around to the beach where the victim had just been pulled on shore,” Christopher Briscoe said.
“I couldn’t be more proud of my son,” he said.
On the beach, a bystander called 911, lifeguards began administering oxygen and, soon after, the paramedics arrived and took over.
“I don’t know how he’s doing now, which is the weird part,” Quincy Briscoe said. “It was a wild, eye-opening and life-changing experience for me and for him as well, because of the way the surf was that day. It was unforgiving.”
Briscoe said the victim was 18 years old and probably had lost his board in the first wave in a set of four and been worked by the others until he was exhausted.
“Once panic sets in, you’re using up way too much energy trying to swim out of it,” he said. “I was just glad I was close enough to hear him.”
Briscoe is currently a sailing instructor in Santa Barbara, but plans to work as an EMT while going to paramedic school. He’s also studying to get his master captain’s license for 50-ton water vessels.
“This definitely changed my view of an emergency moment or situation,” he said Monday on the phone. “It taught me that things like this do happen and freaking out doesn’t help the situation at all.”
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©2014 the Mail Tribune (Medford, Ore.)