Helicopter Rescue Ongoing After Forestry Worker Slipped Into a Ravine
A Hoopa Tribe Forestry worker slipped down into a ravine off of Big Hill road and received serious injuries about 9:30 this morning, according to Rod Mendes, Chief of Hoopa Fire and Office of Emergency Services. He said the man rolled about 300 feet from where he slipped.
“He is about 2000 feet down from Big Hill Road,” Mendes told us. “He has a serious back injury and is unable to walk.”
The injured man was with another forestry worker and Mendes said, “They were able to call out on radio.”
Because of the remote and rugged area the accident occurred, it took a long time to reach the victim. “It was 45 minutes to hike into him,” Mendes explained.
In addition, the terrain means that the helicopter can’t land and the weather is adding to the issues. “Flying into that drainage is really dangerous,” Mendes said. “Getting a helicopter in because of the clouds and the fog is hard.”
But the pilot is expected to reach the site soon. The injured man is already in a Stokes basket and will be hoisted to the helicopter as soon as possible, Mendes told us.
“We figure between 12:15–12:30, they will start the process of hoisting him.”
After the man is hoisted into the helicopter, they will fly him to the airport, and put him in an ambulance, Mendes explained.
Mendes said that Hoopa Fire, Hoopa Volunteer Fire, K’ima:w Medical Center ambulance, Tribal Police and Hoopa Tribe Forestry are at the scene. He said they are also getting assistance from Cal Fire.
UPDATE: Rescuers Struggle for Hours on Brushy, Steep Hillside to Save Injured Forestry Worker
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I am praying that Hoopa Tribe Forestry worker will be okay. Luck he survived that fall. I hope his broken back is not going to lead to other problems. Nice he had a coworker with him. Pray the chopper pilot can find an open window and pick up him and transport. Best wishes for all involved.
🕯🌳Prayers to all those involved. 🛐🇺🇸
Wow! That’s a loooong way to fall! Heal fast, my friend!
Martin and Joe, your comments make it sound as if he went off a cliff. Nothing in the story about him falling. It says he slipped and then rolled about 300′.
HOJ in Training, what is your problem? Slipped or fell, it does not matter. He hurt his back and cannot move his legs. I am praying that they got to him with the chopper and took him to the hospital, and he will be okay. Please pick on someone else. Thanks.
HOJ in Training, what does it matter how he fell, the point is he did fall and hurt his back, and at that time could not move his legs. I am hoping the chopper got to him and went to the hospital. Praying he will be fine.
Kim please stop deleting my comments. There was no reason to remove the last one. Thanks.
Martin, I’m not deleting your comments. To the best of my knowledge, I’ve never deleted your comments. However, you are on moderation and your comments are held until I approve them.
Kim, I have read comments with four letter words, etc., and they stay up. I don’t understand why I am on moderation. Sounds like I am the student and you are the grading teacher. How can you legally do that? Taking away my freedom of speech is not right. I will probably get “black balled” for this comment.
You won’t get blackballed. However, you are writing on a private business website. I have the right to refuse commenting space to anyone.
The right of free speech means the government does not have the right to stop you from creating your own website (except in a few specific instances.) It doesn’t affect my right to set rules that make my website work better.
(Note: Cussing doesn’t get someone put on moderation. Breaking the rules does. Here are the rules: https://kymkemp.com/2018/05/20/commenting-rules-on-redheaded-blackbelt/.)
BUT, I have to type in your IP to a section of my website in order to put you on moderation. I went back over my whole list which is just short of 5 years old. Your IP isn’t on there. HOWEVER, there are a number of IP’s that are very close to yours that are on moderation. I think my software sometimes picks you up and sometimes doesn’t.
To try and solve this, I’ve removed all of the others that are close to yours and we’ll see if that helps.
THANK YOU very much Kim. It is appreciated.
I think the problem is that sometimes when you post it doesn’t show up and you need to use the refresh button to reload the page. For instance, when I view the main list of articles it’ll say there are 12 comments but when I click on the article only 10 comments show up. Hitting the refresh button will show all 12. I’m guessing this may be an issue with the cookies or software on the website. This doesn’t happen for me on any other site but this one. FWIW I use Firefox.
We’ve definitely got some problems. I’m hopeful that in January we’ll get a computer guy in to fix some of these issues.
Any update on his condition?