Firefighters used an inflatable boat and ropes to rescue a man stranded in the middle of the Los Angeles River in Atwater Village after a storm on Sunday afternoon.
The 40-year-old man was spotted standing on a small island amid the briskly-flowing 2-foot-deep waters of the river, Los Angeles Fire Department officials said. He was about 25 feet away from shore.
Rescuers elected to use an inflatable raft, tethered with ropes, to reach and retrieve the man.
“LAFD Swift Water Rescue personnel skillfully used a tethered LAFD rescue boat to safely extricate the (man) to shore,” according to L.A. Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey.
The man appeared unhurt and declined to be taken to a hospital, he said.
It was not clear why the man was in the river to begin with.
