Killer Kern News Today

Drowning is the leading cause of death on the river, and falling in is as dangerous as swimming, the U.S. Forest Service says.

Signs warning of the river's dangers are posted around several river access entry points, but people continue to take risks with the Killer Kern.

Kern County Fire personnel only just received their swift water rescue certification for the summer, but they've already been performing rescues on the Kern River for weeks.

Crews at the 95th Academy Awards struggled on Sunday to clean up water leaking from the ceiling of the Dolby Theater before celebrities arrived.

We might not have been able to save them. >> finally, mcadoo reaches ed and deftly whips the harness over his head. >> he got it around me just really quickly, then the helicopter maneuvered me toward the shore. >> a grateful ed rejoins his fellow rafters as deputy mcadoo goes back to lift the other man off the log. >> it was quite an amazing feat to have walked away with as limited an injury that i had. >> both men are aware of how close they came to becoming one more dismal notch on the belt o...

>> mcadoo is worried. time may be running out for the rafters. >> had these people lost consciousness, fallen off into the river, we would have had a much more perilous mission that we might not have been able to save them. >> finally, mcadoo reaches ed and deftly whips the harness over his head. >> he got it around me just really quickly, then the helicopter maneuvered me toward the shore. >> a grateful ed rejoins his fellow rafters as deputy mcadoo goes back to lift the other man off the log. ...

Much more perilous mission that we might not have been able to save them. >> finally, mcadoo reaches ed and deftly whips the harness over his head. >> he got it around me just really quickly, then the helicopter maneuvered me toward the shore. >> a grateful ed rejoins his fellow rafters as deputy mcadoo goes back to lift the other man off the log. >> it was quite an amazing feat to have walked away with as limited an injury that i had. >> both men are aware of how close they came to becoming one...

The united states, and it flows really fast. >> but the river has a dark side as well. one that keeps the rescue team at the kearn county sheriffs office busy. >> people go in and swim or fall in and they get tired fighting the current, and they drown. >> the boulders that are just under water level, theyre the size of a volkswagen. thats usually what people smash into. weve had over 250 actual drownings in the kern river since they started keeping stats. >> the rivers nickname is the killer ker...