Murrieta Firefighters Describe Dramatic Swift-Water Rescue

MURRIETA (CBSLA.com) – Murrieta firefighters Monday recalled the challenges they faced during an impressive swift-water rescue of a family of four who got stranded in their pickup truck Sunday evening.

The rescue of a couple and their two young children, which was caught on camera, took place in the area of Los Alamos Road and Monroe Avenue when a truck was overtaken by rising water.

Murrieta Fire Capt. Todd Bradstreet swam through the brown, choppy, fast-moving water to the truck and persuaded a mother to give him her 2-year-old daughter, Madeline.

"I looked in the mother's eyes, and it was like, 'This is my baby.' And then, at that point, I had his huge sense of, 'You better not mess up,' " Bradstreet told CBS2.

The family was driving home from a birthday party when it got caught in a dangerous and potentially deadly situation.

"The rain wasn't stopping," firefighter and paramedic Jeff Asbury said. "We were getting soaked out there, the rain was coming hard. It was definitely going to get worse."

On Sunday evening, the couple told CBS2 their truck got swept into a ravine.

"And this road down here, we drive it all the time," mother Summer Partiva said. "Even my husband in his work trucks. And the minute we hit the water, it just picked our truck up and turned into the ravine."

More than a dozen Murrieta firefighters were on scene during the rescue. The family escaped unscathed.

"That rescue was pretty cool," Asbury said. "I mean, the way it went, probably a 10 because you don't see that every day."

"This was kind of a career call," Bradstreet said. "It was neat."