MALIBU_”On Sunday, March 2 at 3:00 a.m., four hikers were rescued from Malibu Canyon. The hikers, three men and one woman, are all residents of Long Beach. The Malibu Search and Rescue team that first responded to a call at 6:45 p.m. of the hikers being stranded in Malibu Creek State Park on Saturday, March 1.
According to the Malibu Search and Rescue Team’s Facebook page, the hikers were found in a “rock pool’ area of the park that looked like “[the rescuers] had never seen [it look] before… The water level had reached epic proportions and the speed at which the water was flying through the rock formations was tremendously dangerous. Rescuers realized that if anyone fell into the rushing water, they likely would not survive.
Malibu SAR, LACO Fire, LACO Fire Urban Search and Rescue, LACO Lifeguards and State Parks personnel, worked under a unified command structure for over nine hours, sending multiple teams of rescuers across the rushing river in boats. The rescuers carried in hundreds of pounds of equipment, including ropes, hardware, eight victim packs, harnesses, swift water equipment, night vision goggles, infrared devices and hiked for multiple hours in an attempt to reach the hikers.’
The rescue seemed dismal due to the weather condition; the rescuers were alarmed that anyone would go hiking in the rainy weather that Southern California was experiencing. The hikers were standing on a plateau just out of the rapidly turning water’s reach. The hikers kept in contact with their rescuers via texting. As the water in rock pool kept rising, a Ventura County Sheriff’s SAR helicopter was able to head over to the distressed hikers at 2:00 a.m. Sunday morning. More than 20 rescuers showed up to save the four hikers.
