AFD: Boy swept away in arroyo rescued

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Updated:  7/28/10 10:30 pm

A 16-year old boy got a rocket ride down a five-mile water chute this afternoon when a storm surge caught him in an arroyo.
He was pulled to safety by Albuquerque Firefighters just north of Morningside Street near I-40 and Carlisle.
The teen tried to walk across shallow water in the arroyo near Juan Tabo and Candelaria around 3 p.m. Wednesday.
He was met by a sudden surge of runoff coming from the East Mountains and swept downstream at an estimated 35 miles per hour.
The five mile journey took him through underpasses and around debris as he fought to stay afloat.
When the struggling teen approached Morningside Street, 5 miles and 10 minutes later, AFD's Swift Water Rescue Crew from Station 13 was waiting.
"You could see him thrashing around," firefighter Peter Jarmosevich said.
"He was well above the water and he was kind of jumping along the bottom as he could."
Jarmosevich toss him a rescue rope, which the 16-year old grabbed hold of.
He was swung around into the waiting hands of firefighters Julian Trujillo and Wade Garvin.
"He was shaken up," Trujillo said.
"He was apologetic. He said he was a boy scout and should have known better."
The teen, who firefighters say had just moved to the area with his family from Tennessee, escaped with only scrapes and bruises.
Trujillo was also treated for minor scrapes at Presbyterian Hospital.
The team downplayed their heroic efforts.
"We we're just doing our jobs," Trujillo said.
"It feels good, pretty exciting," Garvin said.
"I think as a team we definitely made an impact," Jarmosevich said.

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Updated:  5:30 PM 7/28/10

A 16-year-old Albuquerque boy took a dangerous ride of several miles down raging runoff channels Wednesday afternoon before firefighters successfully rescued him.

The firefighters, trained as a swiftwater rescue team, were able to throw a rope bag to the boy as he sluiced down the Embudo Channel at Morris and Cutler NE just before 3:30 p.m. The boy, whose name has not been released, caught the line, and firefighters reeled him in.

The boy had scrapes and bruises, but firefighters said he otherwise appeared to be OK.

At about 3 p.m. the Albuquerque Fire Department received a call from a passerby reporting a young boy was seen in a fast-moving Embudito Arroyo near Candelaria and Morris NE. The arroyo leads to the flood channel that runs down the middle of Interstate 40.

The rescue took place just west of San Mateo Boulevard near where the I-40 channel emerges on the north side of the freeway.

It's not yet clear where the boy started his life-threatening experience or how he was caught in the water. Firefighters estimated his ride at four or five miles and said he was lucky to survive.