Paramedic’s Fatal Fall in Topanga Blamed on Unlocked Safety Harness

An air-rescue paramedic fell more than 50 feet to his death in Topanga State Park because a clasp on his safety harness apparently was improperly secured to a helicopter, Los Angeles County Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman said Wednesday.

The carabiner, a spring-loaded aluminum device used to secure the harness to the aircraft, was found unlocked, Freeman said at a news conference. Carabiners are commonly used by rock and mountain climbers.

“It was not clear if it wasn’t screwed in properly or if it malfunctioned, but there was no evidence that the equipment malfunctioned,” said Freeman, who showed reporters a clasp similar to the one found unlocked on firefighter Jeff Langley’s harness.

Langley, 28, of Glendale died Tuesday when he fell 50 to 70 feet into a canyon from a helicopter as the crew returned for equipment that had been used to retrieve the body of a hiker killed in a fall. Langley is the first county fire helicopter crewman to die in the line of duty since the department started its air-rescue team 36 years ago, Freeman said.

Final conclusions of the investigation will probably not be released until next week, Freeman said. Neither Freeman nor Langley’s partner would speculate about whether Langley failed to lock the device.

“If there was anyone out there who was more meticulous or safety-minded, it would be Jeff,” said his partner, Firefighter/Paramedic Alan Taylor, 42, who was not in the helicopter at the time of the accident. “Somewhere along the line, something didn’t get done or didn’t work.”

Langley, a nine-year veteran of the Fire Department, was one of 10 members of the elite air-operations unit. He was also a member of the county’s Swift Water Rescue and Urban Search and Rescue teams.

Before joining the department, he served as an Explorer Scout working with firefighters.

“His mother said that since he was 4 years old he had wanted to be a firefighter,” Freeman said.

The incident began about 5 p.m. Tuesday, when paramedics flew in to aid a backpacker near Eagle Rock in the Trippett Ranch area of Topanga State Park. The hiker, Jeremy S. Siegrist, 20, of Marina del Rey, had apparently fallen 150 feet to his death.

One crew member accompanied Siegrist to Westlake Medical Center, where doctors attempted unsuccessfully to revive him.

Meanwhile, the helicopter crew, including Langley, went back to the accident site to pick up a bag containing tools and medical equipment worth several thousand dollars. The bag had slid down to the canyon floor during the operation.

Langley was helping another paramedic who was not a member of the rescue team prepare to descend to retrieve the bag, when he fell off the skid, Freeman said.

The other paramedic “turned to double-check things, and Jeff was gone,” Freeman said.

Langley was pronounced dead at Westlake Medical Center about half an hour later, Freeman said.

The last county firefighter to die in the line of duty was Jim Howell, who was killed during a house fire in Huntington Park in 1991 when a facade collapsed and fell on him, Freeman said.

Taylor and other air-crew colleagues were shocked at Langley’s death. He was known as a macho guy in one of the department’s most macho units, Taylor said. But Langley, who was unmarried, was also a very funny man and obsessive in learning more about his work.

“A couple of weeks ago we were skiing at Mammoth and he was skiing in a clown suit,” Taylor said. “He loved to party and have a great time.”

Langley was a semiprofessional bull rider who competed in rodeo events. He also enjoyed hiking, rock climbing and racing mountain bikes.

“He was a go-getter,” Taylor said. “We have to be a little off to do what we do, and Jeff, he liked to play rough.”

On Tuesday morning, Langley had asked Taylor to join him at a rodeo in Colorado Springs, Colo., in July.

“I promised to go. . . . I had missed going out for drinks on his birthday party a few weeks back,” Taylor said. “Now I wish I hadn’t missed that.”

Langley was widely known to his colleagues because he starred in a training film on air-rescue techniques.

Millions of moviegoers saw him play a paramedic for a few seconds in the closing scene of “Lethal Weapon III.” In the 1992 movie, Langley treated a wounded detective played by Rene Russo, and he told Mel Gibson that it was time to leave.

“We’re never going to forget him,” Taylor said. “He’s a real special guy.”