By Jason Pesick
San Bernardino County Sun
RUNNING SPRINGS, Calif. — By 9 p.m. Tuesday, Brian Stone’s mother was panicking because her son hadn’t come home to celebrate his 15th birthday.
The pizza and cake were there, but no Brian to blow out the candles.
A few hours earlier, Stone and some friends decided to hike into Deep Creek in north Running Springs near Hunsaker Drive and Encina Way. After he fell 200 to 300 feet down an ice chute, would-be rescuers went in to help Stone, but they ended up stuck in the freezing temperatures with him.
An ice chute is kind of like a playground slide, except frozen ice and snow serve as the slippery slope.
“It’ll be a birthday he’ll never forget,” said Stella Moreno, Stone’s mother.
In all, the San Bernardino County and Running Springs fire departments and the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department search-and-rescue team rescued three people, including Running Springs firefighter Rick Alsbury.
Alsbury was injured trying to rescue Stone and 48-year-old Leslie Shreenan, who is the mother of one of Stone’s friends and who also had tried to rescue Stone.
Shreenan was flown to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton with mild-to-moderate hypothermia and head, back and leg pain.
Alsbury was flown to Arrowhead Regional with head and back pain.
Stone was taken by ambulance to Loma Linda University Medical Center with mild hypothermia.
Another man who fell in Deep Creek was able to climb out and get help at about 6 p.m. He was taken to Loma Linda University Medical Center by ambulance.
A small group of samaritans also decided to make the climb down into Deep Creek to help.
Brian Merrel, 25, who lives next to the trail into Deep Creek, said he spent five hours in the frigid waters of the creek. He and a neighbor found Shreenan wet and drifting in and out of consciousness.
Merrel got her out of the water, gave her his jacket and tried to keep her warm.
“She would have been dead,” Merrel said.
Officials said they did not expect any of the injuries to be life threatening.
The creek is a popular spot, especially in the summer, local residents said.
“Everybody hikes down there,” said Lorraine Bruker, who said her ex-husband Jeff Pandeli was one of the people who headed down to help.
His son Scott Pandeli, 14, said the area is called the narrows and was a popular swimming spot until firefighters used the water to fight last year’s wildfires.
Officials stressed that people who want to spend time in the national forests need to pay close attention to weather conditions.
“Know before you go,” said John Miller, a spokesman with the U.S. Forest Service.
This year has already seen a number of fatalities and rescue efforts in the national forests due to the weather.
Earlier this month, a Chino man was found dead in the mountains above Claremont.
In January, three skiers died in avalanches near Mountain High Ski Resort.
And hiker Dean Christy, who got lost near Green Valley Lake in January, still has not been found.
Two weeks later, Nate Freund, 27, got lost hiking, but officials were able to find him with the help of a personal locator device.
And just last week, on Feb. 25, two people fell in an icy area on Mt. San Gorgonio and needed to be rescued.
“It feels like we have had a lot recently,” said Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Jodi Miller.
More than 35 firefighters and sheriff’s search-and-rescue personnel had to rig several ropes to hoist the victims, spread several hundred yards apart, to safety late Tuesday. They battled darkness and chilly temperatures in the high 20s, finally wrapping up the rescue around 1 a.m.
“The rescue was very technical, very treacherous and complicated,” said San Bernardino County fire Battalion Chief Marc Peebles.
Many of the rescuers were volunteers with sheriff’s search and rescue, including a 24-year-old Cal State University San Bernardino student who got word she was needed at 7:15 p.m., just after class.
The woman, who would not provide her name, climbed one-quarter mile into the creek to help rescue the hikers.
“I’m sleeping in tomorrow,” she said.