Sunday, May 3, 2015

Notch Command

AFD Rescue 1, Engine 2, two ambulances, APD cruiser, Chief Nelson's vehicle on scene

Amherst Fire Department handled its first fair weather rescue of the year when a mid-20 year old male competitor in the 7 Sisters Trail Race became incapacitated by the warm weather and grueling nature of the terrain up and across Bare Mountain.

In fact rescuers had to carry him back up to the top of the mountain to meet up with a Kubota utility vehicle, so he could be transported on a stretcher down the mountain to waiting units that staged on a side access road in Granby.

 Trail entrance for emergency responders

He was then transported to Cooley Dickinson Hospital. After the first victim was safely transported another competitor also ran into trouble and was assisted by units on the scene, but did not require transport to CDH.


Chief Nelson, who took command at the scene, said he was surprised that it took this long for the first case such as this since the last couple weekends have been warm and inviting for hikes and other outdoor endeavors.

 

A DCR Park Ranger first called in the mishap at 12:45 PM as a hiker, in and out of consciousness,  suffering from heat exhaustion.  The entire rescue took about two hours. 

DCR Park Ranger on scene with ATV

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Might have been helpful to use a drone to help.

Larry Kelley said...

Yes if the patient was missing I would have offered, but his whereabouts was never in doubt.

The hard part was getting him down.

Anonymous said...

Time to get a bigger drone.

Anonymous said...

Weekend Warriors. Keeping public safety personnel busy all across the nation Saturday through Sunday.

Anonymous said...

Which consumes more public safety resources, an ETOH run -- or this?

The Juggernaut said...

Why does it matter Anon 1053? Do you think either case was truly intentional? Or should we hold a jury trial before to see if medical treatment is justified?

Even though I disagree with some of Larry's points regarding UMass students, he is right that their behavior takes up lots of resources that results in a coverage shortage in Amherst. However, as he is smart, you will never see him worry about comparing resources, just that the town has enough.