A skydiver rescued after she was tangled in high-tension power lines Monday in the Wildomar area said she's thankful to be alive.
Firefighters responded to Corydon Road and Garden Street in Riverside County and used a ladder truck to reach the skydiver. The skydiver was communicating with firefighters throughout the rescue refused medical treatment at the scene, authorities said.
The location is just south of the skydiving landing zone. The skydiver told NBCLA she was trying to avoid another power line as she descended toward the landing zone.
"So I was trying to miss that power line, then I turned a hard right and then I went into the other power line," she said. "I don't know if I'm going to jump again. Probably not."
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She was part of a group jump that originated from Skydive Elsinore, which operates a private airfield just a block north of where the victim got hung up. The student was making her first jump with her own parachute system, Skydive Elsinore said in a statement.
"Thankfully, the female jumper was able to walk away from the incident uninjured," Skydive Elsinore said. "The jumper is a student skydiver and was making her first jump flying her own parachute system. The parachute opened properly and was in perfect working order. At some point during the parachute descent, the jumper became confused and flew away from an open landing area and into to powerlines.
"The incident is still under investigation and as further details become available, we will be happy to release that information. We conduct over 100,000 skydives annually and this type of incident is an extremely rare occurrence. We want to apologize to our neighbors for any inconvenience this may have caused."
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Witnesses said they heard the skydiver come into contact with the power lines.
"We heard a pop," said witness Eddie Guillen. "We didn't see anything at first, then saw her stuck up there. Then we saw her moving and thought, 'Oh my gosh, she's still alive.'"
Utility crew members cut power for the rescue operation.
Parts of Southern California, including Riverside county valleys, are under a wind advisory Monday. It was not immediately clear whether winds played a role in the skydiving mishap.
