City News Service
LOS ANGELES — A veteran Los Angeles firefighter who trains rookies on swiftwater rescue techniques nearly drowned during training exercises in an aqueduct in Sylmar today, but said he is OK.
“Everything worked ,” said firefighter Dave Danielson, 40, outside a nearby hospital two hours after the mishap.
Danielson was portraying a drowning person for trainees in a frothy section of the Los Angeles Aqueduct near its southern end today, when he went under for about 30 seconds,
“I hit my head pretty good, in fact, I have short term memory loss,” said Danielson to reporters, with his family standing next to him at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in nearby Mission Hills.
The accident occurred at 2:25 p.m. at the at the Jensen Filtration Center, 14031 San Fernando Road, where the city’s drinking water from the Owens Valley flushes through storage dam at the adjacent San Fernando Reservoir.
“As I came out of the dam area, the instructors that were in the area and the firefighters did what they were supposed to do,” Danielson said.
Firefighters said their colleague was under the churning, cold water for about 30 seconds before they recovered him, not breathing, and began resuscitation. Meanwhile, a rescue helicopter revved up across the San Fernando Valley to ferry him to the hospital.
“I remember grabbing the line that they had thrown me, I remember the guys grabbing on to me, the next thing I knew is the helicopter crew was there, and I was in the back of the helo flying to Holy Cross,” he recounted. “Everything worked.”
Capt. Steve Ruda of the Los Angeles Fire Department said it is typical for a trainer to be in the water to play the role of the victim in such training exercises. Ruda said that 900 people die in swiftwater rescuers across the country each year, and a third of those fatalities are rescuers themselves.
Copyright 2010 City News Service, Inc.
All Rights Reserved