By Tracy Manzer
Press-Telegram
LONG BEACH, Calif. — Long Beach firefighters, lifeguards and police worked together late Friday to pluck a 40-year-old Wilmington man from the dark rushing waters of the Los Angeles River, authorities said Monday.
The Long Beach Fire Department’s Swift Water Rescue Team was called to the Los Angeles River at Del Amo Boulevard about 10:52 p.m. after someone reported seeing a man trapped in the fast-moving water, said Long Beach Fire Capt. Rich Brandt.
After the rescue crew arrived, it asked for backup from the Long Beach Police Department’s Fox 2 helicopter.
The helicopter was used to search a large expanse of the river, from Del Amo to Anaheim Street, and officers found the man clinging to an abutment in the riverbed linked to the Metro Blue Line tracks, Brandt said.
The Swift Water Rescue Team drove to that location, where one of the firefighters scaled the abutment. When the firefighter got close enough to the victim, he helped the man put on a helmet and a flotation device. The firefighter then secured safety lines to himself and the victim, Brandt said.
“Both the victim and firefighter slowly moved, in unison, across the abutment and (were) finally removed from danger by additional firefighters and lifeguards,” Brandt said.
As they did so, the LBPD helicopter hovered above them, providing additional light for the search team, he said.
Once out of the water, the 40-year-old victim was taken by fire department paramedics to a local hospital and treated for minor injuries and possible hypothermia, Brandt said.
The man told rescue crews he was walking home to Wilmington and took a short cut when he became swept up in the river’s current.
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