European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 26, 1967, Darmstadt, Hesse It in he California s Devil s slide and its alpinist firemen by Harold v. Streeter a staff writer you must be Able to Dangle unafraid at the end of a rope Over the Pacific from a Cliff 750 feet below the Breakers smash in froth Over jagged rocks you need More than Normal courage just to look Down. Once you have been lowered in the water you must know How to avoid being sucked by the undertow into sub merged caves at the Cliff s base. You must know How to use Alpine equip ment on almost perpendicular Rock Walls. Otherwise you can t make it on the Pacifica Calif fire department. For its 23 firemen and chief de Greer Al swimmers All expert in first Aid Are custodians of Devil s slide. Nearly every week some of them Are out there pulling a body from the sea or plucking an often injured always terrified person from the slopes. They be recovered 28 bodies in a decade an rescued More than 60 injured since 1963. Devil s slide a 2-mile segment of rugged coastline 12 Miles South of san Francisco combines raw beaut with violent death. Many a speeding Motorist on stat Highway 1 has roared off the sweeping curve near its Crest and flipped into fatal somersault of crunching steel. Nine died in one car in 1944. Some people get marooned on Devil slide in places where mechanical Rescue equipment can t reach them. That i when the firemen turn alpinist using Rock pick and rope. Since 1958, when the Pacifica fir department was put under search res Cue recovery contract by san mate county not a fireman has been killed or even seriously injured in the peril Ous work. Nobody seems to know jus t what Todo about the slide. The idea of a steel mesh Fence was checked and dropped too costly at around $125,000. In 1949, after 10 fishermen had been washed to death in two years from rocks at the Cliff s base Law enforcement officials erected a sign with 10 crosses. Deaths piled up. The sign ran out of space. Signs Banning climbers had a reverse effect. People came by who had no idea that climbing was possible. They read the signs then stopped to try it. Since 1961, it has been illegal for Acar to Stop on Devil s slide except in an emergency but cars still plunge of the slide. Two motorists were killed there and 19 injured last year. How Many have died there at least 60 since 1938," says sheriff Earl Whit More. No one really knows the True toll. The caves some 100 feet Long hold secrets j that May never be revealed. At 868 Linda mar blvd. In Pacifica resides a living Miracle who has her own idea of what should be done with Devil s slide move the Road away and close off the Rose Ann Prouty is a woman in Here forties. She s a rare adult perhaps the \ Only one Ever to fall from top to Bot i torn of Devil s slide and live. I on a september afternoon last . Prouty was returning Home in her car from work at a Montara Candle factory. I must have fallen asleep at the wheel she said. I have no memory 1. Of going Over no memory of falling. The j next thing i remember was waking up two weeks later in a after i was Back on my feet she said my husband took me to Devil s slide to look Down where i fell to Serif there was any Foar left from it. It did t bother me a tuesday september 26, 1967 a left up Rescue efforts on the monstrous Seaside slope near Pacifica calif., Are All in a Day s work for the City s fire department. Sometimes Rescue action is too late. The stars and stripes Page to
