Cal Fire crews report at least 3 weekend water rescues on American River near Auburn
Firefighters and other emergency workers hoisted two victims who were swept down the American River confluence at the Auburn State Recreation Area on Saturday afternoon, the first of three reported successful water rescues in the area over the weekend.
Crews used a California Highway Patrol helicopter to extricate the pair of swimmers who had been stranded on a rock near a steep embankment along the Auburn side of the river, Cal Fire’s Nevada-Yuba-Placer unit said in a Facebook post.
Cal Fire described one victim’s injuries as moderate and the other as minor, but the CHP Valley Division Air Operations in a later social media post Sunday described one of the injuries as major, requiring the patient to be flown to a trauma center. Their condition was not known as of Monday morning.
Video from the rescue shows the water running very fast as the helicopter pulls the two swimmers to safety, while a few dozen other swimmers watch from a beach and shallower water a few hundred feet away.
On Sunday, Cal Fire says it responded for “multiple” other rescues near the confluence, including one near-drowning and another incident involving a stranded swimmer. The El Dorado County Fire Protection District reported that bystanders pulled then near-drowning victim from the water and successfully administered CPR before Cal Fire arrived and helped extract the man via boat. He was then transported to a hospital for his injuries.
The National Weather Service advises that despite hot outdoor temperatures, Northern California’s waterways continue to run fast and cold in June.
