PACOIMA : Firefighters Honor a Fallen Rescuer

Los Angeles County Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman and nearly 50 county firefighters gathered under hazy skies in Pacoima Tuesday to honor the memory of their late colleague, Jeff Langley, who fell from a helicopter to his death after a rescue in Topanga State Park last spring.

As a yellow-and-white rescue helicopter sat motionless in the background, Freeman presented the first annual National Search and Rescue Award for outstanding achievement to Jeff Langley’s mother, Karen Langley, at Barton Heliport in Pacoima.

Jeff Langley was 28 years old, a nine-year veteran of the Fire Department and an instructor for the county’s Swift Water Rescue and Urban Search and Rescue teams when he died.

Karen Langley said her son knew when he was only four years old that he wanted to be a firefighter.

“The sole purpose of his life was saving lives,” Karen Langley said.

The accident occurred when Langley and his crew were attempting to retrieve rescue equipment after pulling the body of a hiker from a canyon in Topanga State Park. Langley fell from the helicopter when a clasp on his safety harness opened.

The award was established by the National Assn. for Search and Rescue in memory of Jeff Langley and Earl Higgins, a 29-year-old writer and producer who died in 1980 while trying to rescue an 11-year-old boy who had slipped into the Los Angeles River.