View of San Francisco Peaks, site of the Arizona Snowbowl in Flagstaff AZ.
Sedona AZ (June 28, 2015) – Two injured hikers were rescued off Kendrick Mountain and the San Francisco Peaks on Saturday, June 27, 2015.
The Coconino County Sheriff’s Office received two separate calls of injured hikers on different mountains near Flagstaff, Arizona. The calls were received within less than sixty minutes of each other.
The first call occurred around 12:35 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. The Northern Arizona Regional 911 center received a request to assist a female hiker, 58, with an injured ankle who was northwest of Flagstaff on Kendrick Mountain. A Guardian Medical Ambulance crew, based out of Flagstaff Medical Center, responded as did a CCSO search and rescue crew.
However, prior to the arrival of responding medics and search and rescue, the 911 center received a call to aide a hiker with acute mountain sickness on San Francisco Peaks Humphrey’s Trail at an elevation of 11, 400 feet. The CCSO search and rescue crew was diverted to the second call on the Peaks.
The Phoenix woman had hiked to the top of Kendrick Mountain and, about two thirds of the way down, injured her ankle. Four members of Guardian Medical, along with one Coconino County Search and Rescue volunteer, a United States Forest Service law enforcement officer, and one Forest Service fire fighter were able to conduct a liter carry of the hiker off the mountain. She was transported to Flagstaff Medical Center for treatment of a possible fractured ankle.
The second call from the San Francisco Peaks was made by a Sheriff’s Search and Rescue volunteer working a hiking event on the mountain. Four volunteers had been staged on the Peaks to assist should any search and rescue situations arise.
At 1:23 p.m., the search and rescue volunteer came upon a 22-year-old male hiker from Lemon Grove, California, suffering from signs of acute high altitude sickness. He was very weak and unable to walk. Another search and rescue volunteer already on the Peaks responded, and, with the help of an off-duty paramedic from Mercy Gilbert Hospital in Gilbert, Arizona, and a nursing school EMT, worked together to aid the victim.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety Ranger helicopter based in Flagstaff was dispatched to the Arizona Snowbowl. The search and rescue crew, paramedic, and EMT were able to slowly assist the hiker down the mountain to the point where he was transported by an all-terrain Arizona Snowbowl vehicle to the awaiting Air Rescue crew. The hiker was flown by DPS to the Flagstaff Medical Center where he was treated and released for mountain sickness.
The Coconino County Sheriff’s Office would like to thank Guardian Ambulance, the Arizona Department of Public Safety, the United States Forest Service, the Arizona Snowbowl, and all of the citizens who assisted with these two rescues.
An amazing team effort! What an amazing group of people!
Read www.SedonaEye.com for daily news and interactive views!
