Hijinks On The Mountain, Holiday Style

"Ambulance 1, stage at Summit and Back Mountain Road. Lost hikers." Should this be a surprise? Perhaps. But it isn't. This comes after two previous calls, the first being an individual who filleted their forearm after multiple rounds of alcohol and the second being a minor motorcycle accident. So we stage. In the meantime, an engine company assignment and the covering officer were dispatched to the area where the hikers were supposed to be near, at least according to the coordinates the cell phone of the hiker who called for help. When the other responding units arrived they prepared to go into the area where the hikers were thought to be located. We were subsequently sent to meet them because one of the hikers had a reported medical emergency. We arrived on scene with the other units, including police, who were on scene as well. My partner was enlisted to go in with the crew (poor guy), and I stayed with the command post, monitoring the radio traffic. It took the crew approximately 45 minutes to get to the hikers. They went in with a scoop stretcher and immobilization supplies in the event that the hiker needed to be carried out. In hindsight, it would have made more sense for the crew to have use of a Stokes basket, but it wasn't available; the basket was located on another piece of fire apparatus that was not dispatched to this call. From what I was told by the guys that went in to get the hikers, the terrain, plus the darkness, made it challenging to get both in and o...
Source: Life in Manch Vegas - Category: Ambulance Crew Source Type: blogs