Grief spurred woman into action

Nancy Rigg Nancy Rigg can still remember how abandoned she felt that day in 1980, standing at the edge of the Los Angeles River watching a truckload of firefighters drive away.

She had just watched floodwaters sweep away her fiance, Earl Higgins, after he saved a child from the fate he suffered. Firefighters were unable to rescue Higgins from the swift-moving water because they lacked the proper training and equipment, Rigg said.

At the time, Rigg and Higgins were new to Los Angeles, writers and filmmakers who had moved to the area to build Hollywood careers. Out on a stroll that day with their dog after a storm, the couple spotted the child in the flood-swollen river, and Higgins reacted quickly to save the boy's life.

Nine months later, Higgins' body was found 30 miles downstream from where Rigg last saw him.

Rigg, now 59 and living in Camarillo, wanted no one else to experience the agony she felt that day and so began a lifelong crusade to raise awareness for the need of firefighters and other first responders to be trained in flood and swiftwater rescues.

A new mission

It took years before the public became interested in what Rigg had to say. But in 1992, after TV cameras captured a teenager swept away by fast-moving floodwaters and the unsuccessful attempts to rescue him, people were more inclined to listen. Rigg was one of many advocates who appeared before the Los Angeles City Council and county board of supervisors to promote coordinated rescue efforts among emergency responders. Soon, the Los Angeles County Multi-Agency Swiftwater Rescue System was established. It was the first of its kind in the nation, Rigg said.

Ventura County soon followed suit.

"We are so blessed in California and Ventura County with really wonderful swiftwater rescue" teams, Rigg said. "Sadly, it is uncommon."

Rigg went on to produce "No Way Out," a flood-safety education video played in schools in Los Angeles and Ventura counties and elsewhere.

Rigg has also produced and appeared in documentaries about flooding and swiftwater rescue for ABCTV, PBS, the Weather Channel, BBC and the Discovery, Learning and History channels.

In 2000, she testified before a U.S Congressional committee investigating the need for a federally coordinated swiftwater rescue program. Her speech came one day before the 20th anniversary of Higgins' death.

Legislators thanked her, but nothing came of the hearing, she said. Five years later, when Hurricane Katrina struck, critics charged the government with failing to sprint into action to help victims.

Rigg said it's likely that if the government had implemented her ideas, Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath would not have claimed so many lives. Reportedly, 1,800 people lost their lives because of the 2005 hurricane.

Rigg also supports and guides families whose loved ones remain missing after search and rescue efforts have been called off. Families are often left vulnerable to unscrupulous organizations that charge exorbitant fees to recover the submerged victim but never succeed. She moderates the Drowning Support Network, the online grief support group she founded.

The group is sponsored by a small nonprofit known as the Higgins & Langley Memorial and Education Fund, which promotes the global development of swiftwater and flood rescue programs. The fund was named in honor of Rigg's fiance, Earl Higgins, and Jeffrey Langley, a Los Angeles County paramedic.

Since the day Rigg stood alone on the banks of the Los Angeles River, swiftwater rescue programs have slowly developed around the globe. The United States has national interagency standards as a result of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, Rigg said, but the problem is that not all fire departments and law enforcement agencies have adopted the standards that relate to swiftwater rescue.

Consequently, the chances that a victim is rescued depends on whether the first responders to the incident are trained in flood and swiftwater rescue, she said.

"This troubles me, obviously, because that was the problem that Earl and I encountered in 1980— no one knew what they were doing," Rigg said.

'Life After Death'

After the loss of her fiance, Rigg felt the need to redefine herself. She visited Higgins' grave four years after his death and wrote about the experience in "Life After Death."

The short story is featured in the 2009 anthology "Sisters Singing: Blessings, Prayers, Art, Songs, Poetry and Sacred Stories by Women."

Carolyn Brigit Flynn, the book's editor, said Rigg's story stood out among hundreds of submissions.

"I feel it was very uplifting and beautiful, and was thrilled to be able to accept it," she said.

On Monday, Rigg will join other authors featured in the book in a 7:30 p.m. reading at the Montecito Library. A $5 to $10 donation is suggested. For more information, call (805) 889-0169.

For information on purchasing the book, please visit www.sisterssinging.com.

Rigg donated a copy of the book to the Camarillo Library.