Woman rescued after falling into deadly Kern River

Several Kern County departments assisted in rescuing a woman who fell into one of the most hazardous rivers in the country this weekend.

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On Saturday at about 4 p.m., a person alerted a Kern County Sheriff’s Office park ranger on Highway 178 that a woman had fallen into the Kern River, the Kern County Sheriff’s Office said on Facebook. 

The park ranger called for assistance and the department’s air support unit began an aerial search for the missing woman. The unit took three search passes, the Facebook post said, before spotting the woman holding on to a rock near a steep cliff while “partially submerged in the swift, cold water.”

The flight officer who spotted the woman routed the Kern County Fire Department to her location to rescue her. After fire department members threw the woman a floatation device and a rescue rope, they were able to safely rescue her. The woman was then evaluated by first responders. 

“The Kern County Sheriff’s Office reminds the public that the Kern River is extremely dangerous, even for experienced swimmers,” The Kern County Sheriff’s Office said on Facebook. “Strong currents, cold water temperatures, and submerged hazards can quickly overwhelm individuals.”

Kern River has previously been called the deadliest river in America. Nearly 350 people have died in the river, with six people dying between May 2025 and May 2026. And just last month, another person, Corey Vargas, went missing when he tried to save his dog that fell into the river. His body was found five days later.

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“There’s a lot of areas where the water level is shallow, and people don’t see that even in shallow water, there’s a heavy, strong undercurrent,” sheriff’s office spokesperson Lori Meza told SFGATE. “There’s areas that look calm that are really, really rapid underneath. We’ve seen a lot of cases where people are just near the water and they slip and fall in.”

The Kern County Sheriff’s Office encourages visitors to wear a properly fitted life jacket and be extremely cautious while doing any activities near the river.

“Why we will continue to say, stay out, stay alive [is] because even with a life vest, you have the high likelihood of getting caught in a rock or a tree that is just under the surface,” Meza said. “And even with a life vest, or sometimes even more with a life vest, you can drown if you get caught in something like that.”