Dramatic photos show death-defying escape of victim trapped in rock tomb off world-famous highway
The Ventura County Fire Department reported that crews responded to the scene at 7:45 p.m. on Monday to assist the victim in escaping the rocks at Thornhill Broome Beach, located approximately an hour north of Los Angeles, California.
The victim, whose identity has yet to be revealed, was trapped by a large rock that had shifted.
Firefighters used 'specialized extraction tools' to remove the individual and were seen carrying them on a stretcher down the rock wall.
Cinematic photos revealed first responders carrying the victim down the beach as onlookers watched from the top of the rocks.
Videos of the escape posted online showed a slew of firefighters assisting in extracting the victim from the rocks.
Multiple agencies, including the VCFD, Oxnard Fire Department, Federal Fire Ventura CHP, and California State Parks responded to the rescue.
'Thank you to all of our local agency partners for their teamwork, technical expertise and professionalism during this challenging rescue,' VCFD said in a statement.
The VCFD said they used 'specialized extraction tools' to remove the individual from the rocks
Community members praised the fire departments on social media, with many flocking to the comment section on VCFD's latest post to congratulate the firefighters on a successful rescue.
'Bravo !!! True heroes,' one comment read.
'Thank God for fire fighters,' another added.
Thank you for your service,' a third wrote.
DailyMail.com reached out to VCFD for more information on the rescue and an update on the patient's condition, but didn't immediately hear back.
Thornhill Broome Beach is located at Point Mugu State Park in the Santa Monica Mountains.
The beach stretches five miles on the shore and features rocky bluffs and sand dunes.
Thornhill sits along the world-famous Pacific Coast Highway, featured in films such as Forrest Gump, La La Land, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
A stretch of the highway was closed in January following a series of devastating wildfires, but reopened ahead of Memorial Day weekend.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Firefighters called to over 40 obese people a week after it was revealed ambulance service had to spend £30million on specialist transport
More than 40 obese people are rescued by the fire service each week, according to startling new figures. The shocking reality of the UK's obesity crisis has been laid bare by Home Office data on the number of firefighter callouts for helping members of the public who are 'overweight or plus size'. It showed that between April 2024 and March 2025 there were a total of 2,274 'bariatric assist' incidents. These can include scenarios where rescue teams have had to winch patients too fat to move out of their flats. Sometimes walls, windows and banisters must be removed to get them out. This year's figure is five times higher than a decade ago, reflecting how the nation's waistline has bulged massively. Between 2012 and 2013, there were a measly 429 callouts for bariatric assists. A decade later this figure reached a record high of 2,342 between 2022 and 2023. Obesity campaigners have previously warned this shocking rise increase the risk that someone will die in a fire because a crew is tied up on someone else's rescue. It comes just a week after a survey found ambulance services have been hit with bills totalling £27.5million to transport obese patients in the last five years. Health leaders have urged the government to do more to tackle the nation's obesity crisis, while campaigners warned the NHS 'cannot cope' with the burden placed on it by individuals with 'grossly unhealthy lifestyles'. Ambulance teams typically call out fire crews if patients in need of help are trapped by their bulk. These will typically be in emergency or health-related situations. Earlier this month it was revealed that health bosses have been forced to splash out on specialist ambulances and lifting equipment or pay private providers to carry people who are too large for standard vehicles. North West Ambulance Service has paid almost £15million in the past five years for ambulances to carry the overweight, Freedom of Information responses show. It hopes to cut its annual payment of £2.715million to private operators by buying eight new vehicles this year for £416,976. And London Ambulance Service is investing £1million for its own fleet, having paid contractors £1.6million a year for five years. South Central Ambulance Service - which covers Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and most of Hampshire - said it had spent £2.3million over the past five and a half years. East of England Ambulance Trust has got through more than £1.25million in two years. John O'Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said last week: 'Taxpayers will be horrified to see the burden placed on NHS budgets by some irresponsible patients. 'The health service simply cannot cope with the weight placed on it by those individuals with grossly unhealthy lifestyles. 'Ministers need to start seriously considering how to ensure that patients cough up when their own choices end up impacting taxpayers.' Rory Deighton, acute director at the NHS Confederation, which represents healthcare organisations, said: 'These examples of NHS spending on bariatric ambulances highlights the reality of the increasing costs of an ageing and increasingly unfit population. 'NHS leaders will be looking to the government to tackle some of the root causes of obesity as part of its wider mission to improve the health of the nation. Being bold and legislating on contentious issues like food policy will help deliver the Secretary of State's ambition to spend less on treatment by focusing more on prevention.' Recent Government research shows nearly two-thirds of UK adults are overweight or obese. Being overweight increases the risk of heart disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes and muscular-skeletal issues. Daniel Elkeles, chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents NHS trusts, said: 'The NHS is there for everyone who needs it. Providing care for the most obese patients require specialist skills, equipment and ambulances
The Guardian
4 hours ago
- The Guardian
‘Didn't have a pillow': the program kitting out foster students starting college
When Ar'reiona Green was accepted to Sacramento State last year, she knew she would need books and school supplies. She didn't expect to need a toolbox. Or hangers. Or that her dorm room wouldn't come with a fan or a lamp. Like many first-year students, Green, who is headed into her sophomore year and plans to become a plastic surgeon, was excited about her future adventures. But coming up through the foster system in California, she didn't know anyone who had gone to college. While she felt ready for her classes, life as a college student was mostly mysterious except for what she'd seen online. That's where Dec My Dorm stepped in. The program works with more than 140 foster youth headed to college, hosting an annual event in July to kit out each student with sheet sets, pillows, a shower caddy and connections to other people in the same situation. Green took part in the summer of 2024, leaving with several duffel bags filled with the things she needed, including many items she didn't know she would need, like dish soap. 'I was expecting bed stuff and towels,' Green said. 'I wasn't expecting them to give me period products and school supplies. They were giving out school merch and stepping stools and toolboxes. They really went above and beyond.' The program started in 2018 when Jill Franklin, a program manager of the Independent Living Program for the department of children and family services in Los Angeles county, met a student who came from the foster system. The young woman described arriving at the University of California at Berkeley with just a trash bag, not knowing that dorm rooms are spartan affairs with a desk, chair, bed with an oddly sized mattress – and that's it. 'She didn't have a pillow or a sheet or a towel, and everybody else was there with their parents and their bags of stuff,' Franklin said. 'At the time, I was editing college essays and I realized, we never ever thought about that first day.' Franklin started with a small Amazon wishlist and a handful of students. It was particularly important that the kids were involved in the process as much as possible, she said, because they were used to living in spaces that were not their own. 'You might have a 17-year-old who's on the football team and says: 'I don't want Minnie Mouse sheets,' but oh well, that's what it is, and they probably aren't going to be there for very long and it's not their bedroom,' said Franklin. 'It was very important that they pick their own bedding, their own towels and their own blankets, so that when they walk in that room, or someone else walks in that room, it says: 'This is who I am.'' In 2022, she met Phyllis Shinbane, who had retired as director of operations from Connecting a Caring Community, a non-profit organization based in Calabasas, California. Like many people, Shinbane had been unaware that foster youth often have nothing they can bring with them to college, but realized this was a need she could help fill. Along with CCC's executive director, Lisa Kodimer, and the Dec My Dorm co-chair Allison Weiss, they raised more than $40,000 in donations and connected with sponsors and volunteers to help 142 students in 2025. 'It's just leveling the playing field,' said Shinbane, who hopes to expand the program to other states. 'It's just putting them in a room where they're equal, where they're not different, where their past doesn't define them, that they are the same as every other college student that came from a supportive, structured, safe home.' Eight per cent to 11% of people in foster care obtain a bachelor's degree, said Sarah Wasch, associate director of the Field Center for Children's Policy, Practice & Research at the University of Pennsylvania. Although most people in foster care can remain in the system until they are at least 21 years old, many foster parents don't have the funds to furnish a dorm room. 'There's a disconnect around who is responsible to oversee that transition,' Wasch said. 'For youth in foster care, it's very unclear if it's the foster family's responsibility, the case manager's, the court's or the legal guardian's.' While some states have programs addressing foster care and higher education, efforts remain piecemeal and there are plenty of gaps to fill, like dorm room needs and storage over summers, she said. Most colleges have support systems specifically aimed at supporting students who come from the foster system, like the Guardian Scholars program in California. Those focus mainly on financial support for tuition and meals, and advising for classes, not for student life. At one point, legislation was introduced to create a federal center that would coordinate state efforts, but it did not pass, Wasch said. Kelisha Williams, a foster student from Kentucky who graduated from Harvard University last spring, said she wished there had been a program like Dec My Dorm when she was going to school. Although Harvard provided a list of dorm room essentials, she watched a lot of YouTube videos to figure out what she would need to fit in and worked to save the money. She emphasized that it's not just about having the essentials, like a shower caddy and a bar of soap. Not having those things could make foster students feel like they don't belong. 'I knew that was going to be a big hurdle, and I did not want anyone to know that I was not like them, or that I didn't deserve to be there,' Williams, 22, said. 'So I kind of just made sure that I worked the summer before to have everything that I needed, even, you know, if it was kind of plush objects like posters and things like that.' Shinbane said that many volunteers were enthusiastic about going with students to set up their dorm rooms, if desired, but there were legal concerns about privacy. The organization offers other resources, like free eye-screening and glasses, and providing students with a resource folder with QR codes linking students to food assistance, clothing programs and campus support. They invite former participants to come meet the new class headed to college, so they can offer advice and support. 'This program is like a living, breathing thing,' Shinbane said. 'It evolves every year, and our goal is to provide them with services and resources to help ensure their success.'
The Guardian
5 hours ago
- The Guardian
‘Didn't have a pillow': the program kitting out foster students starting college
When Ar'reiona Green was accepted to Sacramento State last year, she knew she would need books and school supplies. She didn't expect to need a toolbox. Or hangers. Or that her dorm room wouldn't come with a fan or a lamp. Like many first-year students, Green, who is headed into her sophomore year and plans to become a plastic surgeon, was excited about her future adventures. But coming up through the foster system in California, she didn't know anyone who had gone to college. While she felt ready for her classes, life as a college student was mostly mysterious except for what she'd seen online. That's where Dec My Dorm stepped in. The program works with more than 140 foster youth headed to college, hosting an annual event in July to kit out each student with sheet sets, pillows, a shower caddy and connections to other people in the same situation. Green took part in the summer of 2024, leaving with several duffel bags filled with the things she needed, including many items she didn't know she would need, like dish soap. 'I was expecting bed stuff and towels,' Green said. 'I wasn't expecting them to give me period products and school supplies. They were giving out school merch and stepping stools and toolboxes. They really went above and beyond.' The program started in 2018 when Jill Franklin, a program manager of the Independent Living Program for the department of children and family services in Los Angeles county, met a student who came from the foster system. The young woman described arriving at the University of California at Berkeley with just a trash bag, not knowing that dorm rooms are spartan affairs with a desk, chair, bed with an oddly sized mattress – and that's it. 'She didn't have a pillow or a sheet or a towel, and everybody else was there with their parents and their bags of stuff,' Franklin said. 'At the time, I was editing college essays and I realized, we never ever thought about that first day.' Franklin started with a small Amazon wishlist and a handful of students. It was particularly important that the kids were involved in the process as much as possible, she said, because they were used to living in spaces that were not their own. 'You might have a 17-year-old who's on the football team and says: 'I don't want Minnie Mouse sheets,' but oh well, that's what it is, and they probably aren't going to be there for very long and it's not their bedroom,' said Franklin. 'It was very important that they pick their own bedding, their own towels and their own blankets, so that when they walk in that room, or someone else walks in that room, it says: 'This is who I am.'' In 2022, she met Phyllis Shinbane, who had retired as director of operations from Connecting a Caring Community, a non-profit organization based in Calabasas, California. Like many people, Shinbane had been unaware that foster youth often have nothing they can bring with them to college, but realized this was a need she could help fill. Along with CCC's executive director, Lisa Kodimer, and the Dec My Dorm co-chair Allison Weiss, they raised more than $40,000 in donations and connected with sponsors and volunteers to help 142 students in 2025. 'It's just leveling the playing field,' said Shinbane, who hopes to expand the program to other states. 'It's just putting them in a room where they're equal, where they're not different, where their past doesn't define them, that they are the same as every other college student that came from a supportive, structured, safe home.' Eight per cent to 11% of people in foster care obtain a bachelor's degree, said Sarah Wasch, associate director of the Field Center for Children's Policy, Practice & Research at the University of Pennsylvania. Although most people in foster care can remain in the system until they are at least 21 years old, many foster parents don't have the funds to furnish a dorm room. 'There's a disconnect around who is responsible to oversee that transition,' Wasch said. 'For youth in foster care, it's very unclear if it's the foster family's responsibility, the case manager's, the court's or the legal guardian's.' While some states have programs addressing foster care and higher education, efforts remain piecemeal and there are plenty of gaps to fill, like dorm room needs and storage over summers, she said. Most colleges have support systems specifically aimed at supporting students who come from the foster system, like the Guardian Scholars program in California. Those focus mainly on financial support for tuition and meals, and advising for classes, not for student life. At one point, legislation was introduced to create a federal center that would coordinate state efforts, but it did not pass, Wasch said. Kelisha Williams, a foster student from Kentucky who graduated from Harvard University last spring, said she wished there had been a program like Dec My Dorm when she was going to school. Although Harvard provided a list of dorm room essentials, she watched a lot of YouTube videos to figure out what she would need to fit in and worked to save the money. She emphasized that it's not just about having the essentials, like a shower caddy and a bar of soap. Not having those things could make foster students feel like they don't belong. 'I knew that was going to be a big hurdle, and I did not want anyone to know that I was not like them, or that I didn't deserve to be there,' Williams, 22, said. 'So I kind of just made sure that I worked the summer before to have everything that I needed, even, you know, if it was kind of plush objects like posters and things like that.' Shinbane said that many volunteers were enthusiastic about going with students to set up their dorm rooms, if desired, but there were legal concerns about privacy. The organization offers other resources, like free eye-screening and glasses, and providing students with a resource folder with QR codes linking students to food assistance, clothing programs and campus support. They invite former participants to come meet the new class headed to college, so they can offer advice and support. 'This program is like a living, breathing thing,' Shinbane said. 'It evolves every year, and our goal is to provide them with services and resources to help ensure their success.'
