VIDEOS AVAILABLE: Coast Guard rescues two firefighters in the Trinity Alps Wilderness Area

News Release

U.S. Coast Guard 11th District Pacific Southwest Contact: 11th District Public Affairs Office: (510) 437-3325 After Hours: (510) 772-8865 11th District online newsroom

 

Coast Guard rescues two firefighters in the Trinity Alps Wilderness Area

Editors' Note: Click on images to download high resolution video.

________________________________

MCKINLEYVILLE, Calif. — The Coast Guard rescued two injured firefighters from a ridge near Canyon Creek in the Trinity Alps Wilderness Area early Friday morning.

At 9:14 p.m. Thursday the U. S. Forest Service requested the Coast Guard’s assistance with the rescue of two injured firefighters. The firefighters had been hit by falling rocks and reportedly sustained serious head, back and leg injuries while working in steep terrain on the Middle Fire. 

Coast Guard Sector Humboldt Bay launched an MH-65D Dolphin helicopter crew who flew to the area and located the injured firefighters within 10 yards of the fire line in a clearing that the fire crew on scene had cut in the forest to allow for an extraction. The helicopter crew approached the extraction zone and made a high-altitude, tree-top hoist from 240 feet, the helicopter’s maximum hoist range.

The injured firefighters were flown to Weaverville airport and transferred to emergency medical services. 

“This rescue was extremely challenging due to the proximity to an active fire, the high elevation and the rugged terrain,” said Lieutenant Commander Derek Schramel, the pilot in command of the mission. “I’m very proud of how our crew worked together with our fire service and law enforcement partners in Trinity County to save these two men.”

 

 

-USCG-