Nancy Rigg is the human embodiment of the adage “out of tragedy came some good.” Through sheer determination and unwavering perseverance, she turned a tragic episode in her own life into a pioneering effort on behalf of others.
In 1980, Rigg and her fiancé, Earl Higgins, were walking near the flood-swollen Los Angeles River when they noticed a child in the turbulent waters. Higgins waded into the torrent to attempt a rescue but was swept downstream along with the child. While the child somehow survived, Earl disappeared in the raging water. His remains were recovered nine months later.
In the aftermath, she discovered that 11 different agencies shared jurisdiction over a 30-mile stretch of the river. They could not communicate with each other, the river had never been mapped for rescue locations, and none of the area’s first-responders were trained in rescue techniques specific to fast-flowing rivers.
A writer and filmmaker, Rigg unleashed her talents on bringing the issue of river safety to the attention of the public and civic authorities. She wrote op-ed pieces, produced the educational video “No Way Out,” and even wrote an episode of the popular television program “Baywatch” about swiftwater-rescue techniques. After more than a decade of advocacy, her efforts were rewarded in 1992 with the creation of the Multi-Jurisdictional Joint-Agency River Rescue Task Force.
Rigg’s efforts on behalf of swiftwater rescue were recognized June 16 when she was presented Lawrence University’s George B. Walter Service to Society Award as part of the university’s Reunion Weekend celebration. The award honors Lawrence University alumni for making a positive difference in their community, the nation or the world. Rigg is a 1972 Lawrence graduate.
Today, as a direct result of Rigg’s efforts, flood zones in Los Angeles have been mapped, rescue operations are centrally coordinated, and the death toll has been reduced from an average of 12-18 deaths per torrential storm to an average of 1-2. Individuals who are swept away have a fighting chance to be rescued, and rescue personnel have the training, equipment, planning, and communications capability to coordinate effective rescue operations and also protect themselves.
Hailed as “the mother of swiftwater rescue,” Rigg has taken her fight beyond Southern California. In 2000, the day before the 20th anniversary of her fiancé’s death, she testified in Washington, D.C., in front of the first-ever House of Representatives subcommittee hearing on flood-water rescue. But change at the federal level has been slow in coming.
“Had Congress taken more action in 2000, rather than merely taking copious notes, the tragedy that unfolded along the Gulf Coast in 2005 might have been averted, at least in terms of water rescue and lifesaving,” Rigg says sadly.
She takes some consolation in noting at least one improvement was made at the federal level during Katrina. For the first time ever, all eight urban search and rescue teams from California were deployed by FEMA with swiftwater rescue components. Unfortunately, Rigg says, it was “too little, too late” to serve those who most needed to be rescued from the flood zone.
“We owe it to people everywhere, especially children, to educate them about the dangers of fast-moving floodwater, and we must ensure that, when someone dials 9-1-1, the emergency responders who are called into action have the technical swiftwater/flood-rescue skill needed to save lives.”
Today, Rigg’s writing appears regularly in professional fire and rescue journals, she has consulted with first-responder groups around the country, and she hosts an online newsgroup for rescue personnel and an online grief-support group.
“For someone who majored in theatre to need to converse in the language of geology, geomorphology, hydrology, and other sciences, as well as the language of emergency response, technical search and rescue, firefighting, and disaster preparedness may seem academically incongruous, but it is not,” Riggs says. “To gain respect and have my ideas taken seriously, I had to learn to ‘walk the walk and talk the talk.'”
