RESCUE SQUAD SAVES TEENAGER FROM FLOOD-CONTROL CHANNEL.Byline: Daily News MISSION HILLS - A San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. teenager was swept more than a mile down the Pacoima Wash on Saturday before a Fire Department swift-water rescue team plucked pluck v. plucked, pluck·ing, plucks v.tr. 1. To remove or detach by grasping and pulling abruptly with the fingers; pick: pluck a flower; pluck feathers from a chicken. him from the flood-control channel, officials said. ``I thought I was going to die,'' the teenager told his rescuers, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey. The 17-year-old Sylmar youth, whose name was not immediately available from authorities, was taken to Providence Holy Cross Medical Center Providence Holy Cross Medical Center is a hospital in Mission Hills, California, USA. The hospital has 254 beds, and is part of Providence Health & Services. History for evaluation. He was conscious and alert, with no obvious injuries, but was ``obviously hypothermic'' after soaking in the chilly water, Humphrey said. Patrons at a swap meet swap meet n. An informal gathering for the barter or sale of used articles or handicrafts. called 911 at 8:38 a.m. and reported they saw the teenager lose his footing and slip downstream as he tried to walk across the stream in the 500 block of West Glenoaks Boulevard near Arroyo Avenue in the city of San Fernando San Fernando, city, Argentina San Fernando (săn fərnăn`dō), city (1991 pop. 144,761), Buenos Aires prov., E Argentina. It is a district administrative center in the Greater Buenos Aires area. . Two helicopters and more than 100 firefighters responded. A swift-water rescue team from Fire Station 88 in Sherman Oaks located the youth, put a flotation ring around him and rescued him from the channel near Paxton Street and Arleta Avenue. The water in the vicinity was about five feet deep. Fire Capt. Tom Haus, a member of the swift-water rescue team who joined the Fire Department in 1988, was the first to reach the teenager. ``The young man expressed his thanks to rescuers,'' Humphrey said. ``The water was moving between 5 and 15 miles an hour and is deceptively dangerous. ``Although it has been more than a week since we've had significant storm activity, Southern California's storm channels remain deceptively dangerous.'' For that reason, specialized Fire Department swift-water rescue teams remain active, he said. |
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