On Friday, October 5, at 3:45 PM, 3 Companies of Los Angeles Firefighters, 6 LAFD Rescue Ambulances, 1 Heavy Rescue, 3 Urban Search and Rescue Units, 2 Helicopters, 1 EMS Battalion Captain and 2 Battalion Chief Officer Command Teams, a total of 50 Los Angeles Fire Department personnel, joined by City of Los Angeles Park Rangers and Department of General Services Police Officers, all under the direction of Battalion Commander Jose S-Cronenbold, responded to a cliff rescue in the rugged Bronson Canyon area of the Hollywood Hills.
Firefighters were directed to a steep and rocky hillside more than 150 feet above the canyon floor, where they found a 24 year-old Connecticut man who had tumbled more than forty feet while trying to navigate the slippery terrain.
Discovering the cut-and-bruise covered man to have a severe left shoulder injury, as well as a compound fracture to his left ankle, they immediately summoned specialized LAFD ground and air teams.
Securing the man and themselves, Firefighters commenced medical care in the inhospitable terrain of the former quarry, as a flight-crew Paramedic and litter basket were lowered from a hovering helicopter.
Though a helicopter hoist of the soon litter-basket secured victim was initially anticipated, the loose, very rocky and unstable soil beneath him was determined to be a greater danger in the helicopter rotor wash.
As such, an alternate plan was promptly pursued.
Using the skill and equipment of LAFD’s municipal Urban Search and Rescue teams, the patient was quickly and effectively lowered to the canyon floor via a rope relay system. He was placed in an awaiting ambulance and transported to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in fair condition.
No other injuries were reported.
It was not immediately clear why the man was traversing the steep hillside in Bronson Canyon, the site of one or more cliff rescues a year by Los Angeles Firefighters.
Others have admitted to being drawn to the site due to its eight decade history as a filming location, often mentioning an interest in a very short tunnel nearby that served as a backdrop for the 1960’s television series ‘Batman’ and other productions.