Fire Crew Supervisor

Department of Forestry and Fire Protection

2/2/1977

Special Act Award (Gold)

On February 2, 1977, Fire Crew Supervisor William A. Clark, while supervising a cleaning crew at Oceano Beach, observed a boat in the rough sea about 600 feet off shore. The five occupants were waving distress flags. Fire Crew Supervision Clark immediately radioed for help from the Coast Guard and the sheriff’s department. He then returned to the beach and accompanied by inmate crewmember John London, he entered the rough surf and fought his way to the boat, which by now had been swept into the breaker, overturned, and totally splintered by the powerful waves. Fire Crew Supervisor Clark and inmate London managed to bring all five occupants to the shore. It was necessary to give artificial respiration to one before the ambulance arrived. Of the five occupants, only one, a Bakersfield man in his 70’s died.