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L.A. County Fire Chopper Rescues Hikers
Posted: 07-21-2006
Updated: 06-14-2007 12:09:23 PM
Select State: Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Conn. Delaware. D.C. Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Okla. Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Two boys who got lost while hiking in Schabarum Regional Park were reunited with their parents overnight after a tricky rescue by a helicopter crew guided by a cell phone with a dying battery.
The boys -- one 14, the other, 15 -- were plucked to safety by a Los Angeles County Fire Department chopper at about midnight, after they had been lost for hours, said fire dispatcher Cheryl Sims.
They had wandered off some time before sunset, following a trail for a while before abandoning the beaten track in search of a good view, said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Lt. Jaime Baltazar.
"The more they wandered, the deeper they got into the canyon," Baltazar said. "They lost their bearings."
As night fell, the boys got worried, Baltazar said. One of them is an asthmatic who suffered a mild attack, although he got it under control after a short rest, he said.
One of the boys managed to get a signal on his cell phone and called the sheriff's lepartment at about 9 p.m. Thursday, Baltazar said.
While the boys talked with firefighters and sheriff's deputies, two helicopters -- one from each department -- overflew the area, Baltazar said.
The helicopters got relatively close to the boys thanks to GPS tracking information generated by the cell phone, Baltazar said, and the boys used the light from the phone as a signal to help the crews home in on their location.
"It's like lighting up a cigarette at night," Baltazar said. "You can see that thing a mile away."
Authorities located the boys just before the cell phone's battery died, he said.
"Had that battery gone out sooner, we might not have found them until the next day," Baltazar said.
Ground units from the sheriff's department initially tried to reach the boys, cutting their way though dense brush and thorny shrubs with chain saws, Baltazar said. But they ran into trouble when a sheriff's sergeant hit a thick patch of poison oak and firefighters had to treat him for exposure to the toxic plant, Baltazar said. The sergeant was doing fine early Friday, he said.
Abandoning the idea of a ground extraction, the fire department used its helicopter to airlift the boys out, Baltazar reported, saying it was a difficult operation because of high-tension wires in the area.
The boys suffered minor bruises and cuts from the underbrush, Baltazar said.
Sims, the fire department dispatcher, said the boys were airlifted to a triage area where they were examined by paramedics and released to their parents.
Baltazar said the rescued adventurers might find themselves in parental hot water Friday, but that is still better than being lost.
"I'm sure they'll think twice about going off to some place to find a view," he said.
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