Firefighters, Deputies Practice Over-the-Side Rescues on the Crest

Always have a "plan B.''

That's the motto of search and rescue officials, and it's one they employed on Friday.

Los Angeles County firefighters, deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, including Montrose and Altadena search and rescue teams, and representatives from the U.S. Forest Service participated in an “over the side” high angle and technical rescue exercise off the Angeles Crest Highway in the Angeles National Forest. Last year, search and rescue teams completed a record 560 missions, that included over-the-side rescue operations on the Crest.

As members of Montrose Search and Rescue lowered three deputies down the hill to rescue a fourth, one of the cables got wrapped around the capstan, so rescuers couldn't use any of the hydraulics to pull the team to safety and instead pulled them back up by hand. 

"If we have an equipment failure we can re-rig the thing and perform the rescue with a manual operation,'' said Kevin Hughes, a reserve deputy with Montrose Search and Rescue.

So was that part of Friday's drill?

"No,'' he said, noting it is, however, the exact scenario that they have trained for. It's why you always need to have a back-up plan, he said.