and deftly whips the harness over his head. he got it around me just really quickly, then the helicopter maneuvered me toward the shore. a grateful ed rejoins his fellow rafters as deputy mcadoo goes back to lift the other man off the log. it was quite an amazing feat to have walked away with as limited an injury that i had. both men are aware of how close they came to becoming one more dismal notch on the belt of the killer kearn. you never think you re going to be a statistic. you think that s only going to happen to someone else. it was a close call. it s not a disneyland ride. if you fall in the river, there are no guarantees that you will live at the end of it. coming up a football player has a miraculous save. kind of like did that just really happen? and a young rapper slam dances with an ice cream truck. it had to knock me at least ten feet.
at the kearn county sheriff s office, the air support team of deputies mcadoo and nelson. we got our gear together that we needed to conduct the hoist rescue, pulled the helicopter out, took off and started heading out there. as we were going out there, the first ground units arrived on scene and actually confirmed that they had six people stuck in three different trees. when they reached the scene, mcadoo and nelson are surprised at how swollen the river is. stuff that s usually dry land was underwater. it was shocking to see the peril that these people were in. the ground team rescues two people using boats, but they can t reach mike or ed, marooned in the trees. that s when they asked for us to go ahead and conduct a hoist rescue. the rafters have been in the water for more than an hour, and are growing dangerously chilled. how much longer can they hold on? i was starting to feel a bit frostbitten. maneuvering a rescue hoist
people go in and swim or fall in and they get tired fighting the current, and they drown. the boulders that are just under water level, they re the size of a volkswagen. that s usually what people smash into. we ve had over 250 actual drownings in the kearn river since they started keeping stats. the river s nickname is the killer kearn. on a warm june day in 2010, two friends, mike mccave and ed flickimer, decided to try rafting for the first time. with a group of friends, two rafts and two guides, they head for the river. when they get there, mike wonders if they have made a mistake. the river was flowing at a high rate of speed. it was at a very high level but i didn t really know what to compare it with. despite the boiling current, the group launches their boats. within moments, everything goes wrong. we saw that tree coming right in front of us and then we hit it head-on.
welcome back to caught on camera. i m contessa brewer. on a warm summer day, a rafting trip nearly turns fatal when beginners encounter a river, wild and swollen with snow melt. the rescue that follows is a high wire act and it s caught on not just one, but two cameras. novice rafters get the ride of a lifetime, and wind up cheating death. it was shocking to see the peril that these people were in. california s kearn river is a scenic, natural wonder and a popular play ground. one of the steepest rivers in the united states and it flows really fast. but the river has a dark side as well. one that keeps the rescue team at the kearn county sheriff s office busy.
as well. one that keeps the rescue team at the kearn county sheriff s office busy. people go in and swim or fall in and they get tired fighting the current, and they drown. the boulders that are just under water level, they re the size of a volkswagen. that s usually what people smash into. we ve had over 250 actual drownings in the kearn river since they started keeping stats. the river s nickname is the killer kearn. on a warm june day in 2010, two friends, mike mccave and ed flickimer, decided to try rafting for the first time. with a group of friends, two rafts and two guides, they head for the river. when they get there, mike wonders if they have made a mistake. the river was flowing at a high rate of speed. it was at a very high level but