Quick Action, Good Luck, Lead to Long Beach Rescue

By Joe Segura, Long Beach Press Telegram

LONG EACH Training and a touch of good fortune may have helped avert a Firefighters, police and members of the Public Safety Dive Team responded to a 9-1-1 call at 12:03 p.m., and pulled a man from the water off the pier, within nine minutes. The unidentified man, who jumped from the pier with a backpack filled with sand, remains on life support at an area hospital.

“The coordinated effort to retrieve a person under 10 minutes is an amazing feat,” said Marine Safety Chief Randy Foster of the Long Beach Fire Department.

Foster said that as long as a person is in cold water — 70 degrees or below — he or she can survive in the water up to an hour, a period known as the “golden hour.” The colder water slows the body’s internal systems, which means the blood doesn’t need as much oxygen, officials said. At the time of the rescue, the water off the pier was in the low 60s.

The rescue effort benefited from a stroke of good fortune, with police divers being near the Termino Avenue beach lifeguard station just a couple of blocks west of the pier, where they were assisting a kayaker.

“A lot of things came together,” Foster said Monday, adding that the quick action Sunday was the third rescue in a row that was made in short time. “In the field of public safety diving, this is unique.”

Thanks to the precise placement of a buoy by rescuers, divers were able to promptly locate the jumper, officials said. New sonar equipment to assist in rescues was not required, Foster said.

The Long Beach Public Safety Dive Team is a coordinated joint effort between LBFD and LBPD. The joint coordination led to the fast recovery, according to police spokesman David Marander.

Cmdr. Alex Avila of the Long Beach Police Department’s port division said there were divers on a training exercise on a new vessel. Of the four officers, three were divers, and they were able to enter the water first.

“It was a coordinated decision,” he said.

At approximately 12:12 p.m., police divers pulled the man from the water.

The man was placed aboard a waiting lifeguard rescue boat and rescuers immediately rendered life safety measures. Paramedics transported the man to the dock where paramedics were waiting and transported him to a local hospital.