Nineteen-year-old Jeremy Michael King climbed up the 60-foot face of Castle Rock – located on the west side of Lucerne near Roland Drive – Wednesday afternoon, according to a report from Sgt. Dave Thompson of the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office, which assisted with the rescue.
King was on the rock about two hours and when evening arrived and it got dark he panicked, Thompson said.
Northshore Fire Battalion Chief Steve Hart said the district received the call at around 6 p.m.
Hart said he, Chief Jim Robbins and Battalion Chief Pat Brown responded, along with medic and heavy rescue units, an attack vehicle, a light unit and a utility vehicle.
Reports from the scene indicated fire officials were concerned about endangering personnel and equipment in trying to get to King. They noted that the ground was wet due to recent rains.
So Hart said the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office's Henry-1 helicopter was called in to conduct a long line rescue.
Firefighters at the scene reportedly helped light up the rock where the climber was located in an effort to help guide the helicopter in.
Once the helicopter arrived, Hart said it took about five minutes to rescue King.
Thompson said a trained Henry-1 crew member rescued the teen using a “horse-collar” rescue “strop.” King was then flown with the rescuer via the 100-foot long-line to awaiting fire crew members. He was uninjured.
Thompson said the Henry-1 is equipped with state-of-the-art night vision goggles and a 50-million candle-power Night Sun spotlight.
That equipment, plus ample nocturnal rescue training, enables the Henry-1 crew to be available to perform these nighttime long-line rescues, which are generally not conducted elsewhere throughout the nation, Thompson said.
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