It’s All for the Worst

El Nino is coming; send in the Marines.

Or the Orange County Fire Authority. Or the Costa Mesa police. Or any of the other agencies who trained Wednesday to rescue victims caught in flash floods from winter storms yet to come.

“We anticipate a wet February. The El Nino threat is still there,” said Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Scott Brown, warning those who have already dismissed the weather phenomenon.

So rescue workers spent a sunny day at the Seal Beach Aquatic Park getting ready for the day when the skies will open up, practicing helicopter rescues of victims stranded on rooftops by rising waters.

“Every time it floods, we have people trapped on cars,” said Fire Authority Capt. David A. Lopez. “We haven’t had our helicopter for that long, and this is the first year we’re using it for this purpose.”

Along with the Fire Authority helicopter, craft from the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station Search and Rescue Team and from Airborne Law Enforcement, a joint operation of Costa Mesa, Newport Beach and Santa Ana police, ferried back and forth from the jetty to the water, plucking pretend flood victims from the surface using a cable and harness suspended from each helicopter.

Seal Beach lifeguards, Fire Authority Swift Water Rescue Team members, Sheriff’s Department dive team members and El Toro firefighters volunteered to plunge into the 54-degree water and pose as victims.

“With El Nino and everything, we’ve got to be prepared,” said Marine Maj. Joe Doyle, commander of the Search and Rescue Team.

Brown said the rescuers were practicing for days like Dec. 6, when storm clouds dumped 8 inches of rain in some areas of Orange County and washed occupied cars down flooded streets like twigs caught in white water.

During Wednesday’s drills, the helicopter pilots maneuvered over the victims until they couldn’t see them, then relied on the guidance of their observers to get the helicopters directly over the bobbing figures.

A crew member would drop the cable and harness to the victim, who they hope in a real-life rescue would be calm and lucid enough to slip the collar under their arms.They also hope that the victims don’t “do a Tarzan move” and try to stand in the collar and clutch the cable with one hand, Jenkins said.

“This technique requires the victim help himself a little bit. So the victim has to be conscious,” Lopez said.

The cinch collar is a bright-yellow piece of cloth and cushion suspended under the helicopter from a long cable. As the person is being lifted, the collar tightens around the chest.

“As long as I get it around you, all I’ve got to do is set it and I’ve got you,” said Gunnery Sgt. J.T. Jenkins, crew chief on the Marine helicopter.

During Wednesday’s practice the erstwhile victims spun in the air, suspended by the cable, then wobbled off dizzily once they hit the ground.

Seal Beach lifeguard Ross Pounds, who donned his wetsuit to portray a victim, said the sight of a helicopter thudding 25 feet overhead can be intimidating while you wait for that rescue collar to hit the water.

“I just kept thinking, ‘It’s right there. This thing’s going to drop right on me,’ ” he said. “You’re sitting in the water and the helicopter is sitting right above you--it’s pretty neat.”

Brown said it’s important the agencies train together so they can work more efficiently when the inevitable emergencies arise. They train every three or four weeks during the rainy season.

Jenkins said the job can be dangerous; engine trouble or wind gusts at such a low altitude leave little room for error.

“But it’s a satisfying job,” he said. “There’s the satisfaction knowing you’ve saved somebody.”