Jenna Bordelon
SOUTH SAN FERNANDO DISTRICT -- Firefighters were called Tuesday
afternoon to rescue a man who had fallen into a flood control channel.
The man, whose name was not released, told fire officials he had
dropped his lighter over the wash overpass in the 100 block of West
Verdugo Avenue and wanted it back.
Fire Marshal David Starr said the man apparently lowered himself
partly down the side of the wash and fell the rest of the way.
Firefighters strapped the man, who appeared to be in his early 50s, to
a stretcher and tied the stretcher to a fire truck ladder with rope.
He was taken to Providence St. Joseph Medical Center with either a
severely sprained or broken ankle, Starr said.
"It's kind of a classic," Starr said. "Given a little different
season, it could have been a real problem."
The water level in the wash was low because of the lack of rainfall,
Starr said.
