A large boulder weighing more than thirty tons slid down a Flagstaff Arizona mountain side crushing a man standing on Mount Elden Lookout Road.

Sedona AZ (September 10, 2013) – Just before 7:30 a.m. today, the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a twenty seven year-old Phoenix man crushed by a rock slide on Mount Elden Lookout Road, approximately 3.3 miles up from the bottom of the mountain.

Dispatchers immediately sent first responders from the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office, the Summit Fire Department and Guardian Medical Transport to the scene and placed the Arizona Department of Public Safety Air Rescue Helicopter on standby status pending arrival of emergency personnel who would assess the conditions and determine if a safe landing zone was available.

The first to arrive, a Sheriff’s Office patrol Sergeant and Corporal, observed two very large boulders blocking the road and learned that four men traveling with the victim had managed to remove him from underneath a boulder. The victim’s legs and pelvic area appeared to be crushed and severely injured by the weight of the rock. Due to the condition of the road, the responding ambulance and fire truck were unable to drive to the Lookout Road location so a Sheriff’s Sergeant and a Guardian Battalion Chief, both operating four wheel drive vehicles, drove additional rescue personnel to the scene.

Mount Elden rock slide

A Search and Rescue Coordinator was unable to find a safe landing zone for air transportation which necessitated that the young man be driven by rescue personnel in a SUV to the waiting ambulance. He was then transported to the Flagstaff Medical Center.

All of the men accompanying the victim were from the Phoenix area and had been hiking up the mountain intending to work on one of the radio towers.

The Coconino National Forest has closed Mount Elden Lookout Road and may temporarily close other trails and areas affected by the recent rains.

Current forest conditions can be found on the National Forest website at www.fs.usda.gov/coconino.

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