Font ResizeHAYWARD — Hayward firefighters pulled a woman out of the Bay on Tuesday afternoon less than 30 minutes after she jumped off the westbound side of the San Mateo Bridge in an apparent suicide attempt, authorities said.
The woman, whose identity was not immediately known, had driven about three-quarters of a mile from the toll plaza when for unknown reasons she pulled over and leaped into the Bay around 1:14 p.m., Hayward Fire Batallion Chief Nathaniel Armstrong said.
Seven Hayward firefighters, a Foster City fire chief and a Coast Guard helicopter crew responded to the scene. Firefighters arrived within four minutes of the incident being reported, Armstrong said, and kept the woman close to the bridge with a roped life preserver, or cinching ring.
A fire engine that arrived about five minutes later stretched a ladder over the bridge and dropped harnessed firefighter Aaron Goins into the Bay, Armstrong said.
Goins secured the woman with a webbed "quick harness" and wrapped his arms around her as the engine pulled them from the water about 1:40 p.m.
The woman, who appeared to be in her mid-to-late 20s, was immediately taken to a local hospital.
Authorities said she did not appear to have suffered life-threatening injuries.
Armstrong surmised that the woman had to have had some swimming aptitude to survive in the water as long as she did.
"With the warm weather, hypothermia was not a big concern," Armstrong
The California Highway Patrol closed all westbound traffic on the bridge within 400 feet of the rescue operation for about a half-hour, Armstrong said.
Gideon Rubin can be reached at 510-293-2469 or grubin@bayareanewsgroup.com.
