[Update: Transported via Coast Guard] Emergency Personnel Respond to Report of Hiker with Possible Broken Leg on Coastal Trail
Emergency responders were dispatched Monday afternoon to a remote stretch of the Humboldt coast following a text message to the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office reporting an injured hiker in need of medical assistance.
The call came in around noon on Memorial Day. The hiker, whose age and gender were not immediately known, was reported to be located approximately 5.5 to 5.8 miles south of Mattole Beach with a possible broken leg.
Due to the remote location, Southern Humboldt Technical Rescue, CAL FIRE, Petrolia Fire, and City Ambulance were all requested to respond.
The condition of the hiker was not immediately available.
Please remember that information gathered from initial reports is subject to revision as more facts become available.
Update 1:10 p.m.: The Reach air ambulance flight crew alerted dispatch that they would be on scene in approximately 30 minutes or less. Dispatch advised Reach that a Coast Guard helicopter was also responding to the incident.
Update 1:42 p.m.: Reach 35 has been cancelled per radio traffic. According to dispatch, the Coast Guard helicopter is transporting one patient and a family member to St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka. Emergency personnel ground crews are hiking out from the remote area now that the patient has been transported.
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Not to be an armchair quarterback, but it sometimes seems like a bit of an over-response to some of these emergencies. Four different agencies plus now 2 helicopters for a possible broken leg?
You were thinking they should walk out?
Everybody gets a training run in relatively decent weather and the several agencies work out any radio issues or other anomalies instead of having to work it out in a genuine, serious emergency. Wow, tax dollars spent on life-saving equipment and training. If it was my broken leg, I’d be OK with the back-up teams.
Reach is on the incident now per flight radar 24. Dulling copters Eh!
One charges a fortune and one is free if I am not mistaken! So to the person it’s a big difference.
If you need a rescue, call the Coast Guard. They don’t charge.
They’re not just for ocean work. I’ve seen them come as far inland as Big Flat.
Big Flat where? The King Range Big Flat is south of Mattole beach right on the beach. It’s an attraction for hikers and surfers who can hack the hike. USCG does work inland on local watersheds as they did in the ‘64 flood and subsequent events. They have to go out but they don’t have to come back.
Big Flat on the Lost Coast is not inland. It’s right on the coast. There’s a Big Flat along Hwy 299 east of Burnt Ranch.
This person dodged a serious bullet.
Reach flights are tens of thousands of dollars.
Thank goodness the Coast Guard got there first.
While this may seem like a redundant response, it’s an opportunity to train staff, which includes newbies.
Man they lucked out, got rescued on taxpayer dollars instead of what ever arm and a “leg” Reach charges
The coast guard service is one of the good reasons for paying taxes.