by Garth Meyer
Eight people were rescued in two separate incidents on the Redondo Beach breakwall last Friday night and Saturday morning, blown down the rocks by rogue waves.
The first instance happened Friday at 11:30 p.m., when a call came in to the Redondo Beach Fire Department about two injured fishermen.
Harbor Patrol Boat 63 responded, along with Baywatch Redondo, retrieving two men from the lower rocks. They were treated by paramedics at Fire Station Three in King Harbor and taken to Harbor UCLA hospital with “significant, non-life threatening injuries,” according to RBFD Deputy Fire Chief Jason May.
Three other people were able to get themselves back to safety.
At 8:15 a.m. the next morning, a Lanakila paddler told RBFD fire crew at Station Three that they heard yelling and screaming along the breakwater.
Boat 63 went out again to find six people who had been struck by a large, intermittent, set wave, and washed over the boulders. All six were stranded on lower rocks. In order to reach them, three RBFD rescue swimmers entered the water, along with one lifeguard, and worked to pull the injured into the boat.
RBFD paramedics triaged the six victims at Fire Station Three and took them to Harbor UCLA hospital for further evaluation, in four ambulances. Three people were deemed to have significant injuries.
RBFD and Redondo Beach Police then instituted a “strict closure” of the breakwall, with barriers set up by Redondo Beach Public Works, and police monitoring access points. Harbor Patrol trolled the waters alongside the breakwall using a P.A. to tell anyone they saw to clear off of it.
The closure ended Sunday night.
“The federal breakwater is always dangerous and access is not regulated by the City of Redondo Beach,” Chief May said. “During high-risk times, we enforce limited access.”
Signage at various access points along the breakwall advises the public not to go out on it.
“There’s no way you can fall on those rocks and not be hurt,” May said. ER
