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3 Rescued After 7-hr Grueling Effort by LASD Malibu Search & Rescue Team & LACoFD - Night VIDEO & Photos, SAR

(Photos - Click on hyperlink at the bottom of this message)

The Sheriff's Malibu Search and Rescue Team (SAR) located three lost and stranded hikers after a grueling 7-hour overnight operation that started late Thursday night in a remote, isolated location below Malibu Canyon Road. The rescue was completed at 5:30AM Friday morning, July 20, 2012.

The video link below shows a Malibu Search & Rescue team member bringing one of the victims up the vertical spillway. It is more than a 120 foot ascend, and there was a flowing waterfall (that you can hear on the video) to contend with. All done in the dark with nothing but flashlights to guide their way:

Direct link to the night video on youtube is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OWSn2wWJZo&list=UUlrCXRurpUlzY7gt7AUJPSw&index=1&feature=plpp_video

Five friends were hiking in the Rindge Dam area 600 feet below Malibu Canyon Road, Malibu, when they became separated. Two members of the hiking party, using the unmaintained trails, were able to make their way out of the canyon. They then called 911 to report the three lost hikers to Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff's Station deputies.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Malibu Search and Rescue Team, accompanied by Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACoFD) personnel, responded to the scene. An LACoFD helicopter scouted the area and determined that an air evacuation would be too dangerous in darkness.

Leaving the lost and stranded hikers overnight in the deep canyon was not an option, therefore, the Sheriff's Malibu Search and Rescue team set up a technical rope retrieval system.

Four Malibu S & R team members remained on Malibu Canyon Road to operate the equipment while eight Malibu S & R team members, as well as four LACoFD personnel deployed rapelling over the side of the Malibu Canyon Road.

A 19-year-old woman and 26-year-old man, both from Hollywood, and a 22-year-old West Hollywood man, were winched from the canyon floor to a stable area in the canyon and escorted by team members hiked to safety.

The trio were met by LACoFD rescue paramedics, who after an evaluation, determined the two men were uninjured. The woman had suffered a knee and ankle injury and will seek her own medical treatment.

The 7-hour gruelling and dangerous rescue operation came to a positive conclusion at 5:30 Friday morning.

Sheriff's Reserve Sergeant David Katz, Malibu Search and Rescue Team, said “Members of this hiking party were able to seek help, were safely rescued, and only one of the five hikers suffered an injury. However, others have not been so fortunate. Sadly, during the last six months, Malibu Search and Rescue Team members have responded to the dam on two other occasions, each time retrieving the body of a hiker who had suffered fatal injuries.”



***HIKING PLAN SHEET***

*Enjoy Nature - Plan your Hike by filling out the Sheriff's Department's HIKING PLAN SHEET:

Hiking/Camping is a fun way to get family and friends together to enjoy the outdoors and to get some physical activity. However, you should always be prepared for the unexpected. Before you leave, please fill out Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Search and Rescue – Hiking Plan sheet and provide it to a loved one to hold onto just in case something happens to a member of your hiking/camping expedition. You can download the form by visiting:

http://file.lacounty.gov/lasd/cms1_163961.pdf

Malibu Search and Rescue Team
Lost Hills /Malibu Sheriff's Station
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
www.LostHills.lasd.org
(818) 878-1808

Search and Rescue Team members are reserve sheriff’s deputies who volunteer their time to help others for $1 a year, and who partner with sheriff’s civilian volunteers who volunteer for free. There are over 150 members of the eight Search and Rescue teams of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, who were activated for over 450 search and rescue missions last year, making it one of the most active counties for search and rescue missions in the nation. Reserve deputies and civilian volunteers are supervised by full-time sheriff’s deputies. http://lasdreserve.org/

If you would like more information on how to prepare for your hiking / camping trip, please visit the Center for Disease Control’s camping website at

http://www.cdc.gov/family/camping/


There are over 850 LASD reserve sheriff's deputies who work patrol, jails, search and rescue, motorcycle patrol, mounted posse, investigations, and more, as team members of the second largest policing agency in the nation. http://lasdreserve.org/



Forwarded by:
Captain Mike Parker
Sheriff's Headquarters Bureau - Newsroom
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
(323) 267-4800
http://www.lasd.org
SHBNewsroom@lasd.org
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Sheriff Leroy D. Baca
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department


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(Photos - Click on hyperlink below)

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Monterey Park, CA 91754

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