Overview
- On Saturday afternoon a passerby flagged down a park ranger on Highway 178 outside Bakersfield after a woman was swept downstream and later found clinging to a rock beneath a steep cliff.
- Kern County Sheriff’s air support located the woman on a third flyover and Kern County Fire Department crews climbed down, threw a lifejacket and used a rescue rope to pull her to safety.
- The unidentified woman was turned over to emergency medical personnel for evaluation and officials released dramatic helicopter and ground-rescue video of the incident.
- The sheriff’s office reminded the public that cold water, strong undercurrents and submerged rocks or trees can quickly overwhelm people and urged the use of properly fitted life jackets.
- The narrowly averted fatality renews attention on the Kern River’s high toll, with local counts near 350 deaths and multiple recent drownings and missing-person cases.