Went on a rescue turned recovery last night.

Youngunner

Adventurer
Just thought I'd like to share an interesting call with you guys. it's a long story, but some might find it entertaining.

For a little background I am a Paramedic for a private ambulance company in Fallon, NV (about an hour east of Reno). We cover a total area of 5400 square miles of Churchill County as well as very frequent mutual aid responses to other counties further into the desert. We do all of this with two ambulances (2 wheel drive by the way) per day and we're up to 3200 calls this year. We have a volunteer fire department (which does not respond to any medical or even vehicle crashes unless we call them). We are also fortunate in this area to have NAS Fallon (home of Topgun) with an excellent fire dept and SAR helo. I was a firefighter for about a year, as well as a member of a SAR team in Reno for a little bit.

SO...

We were called at 1600hrs for a sheep hunter who was having chest pain. This man called his son who relayed the info to our dispatch. They were unable to get a hold of him as his cell phone was no longer active. His location as dispatch put it was "somewhere on the west face of the clan alpine mountains off bench creek road." Helpful indeed. My partner and I accompanied by one sheriff unit made our way to this dirt road which branches off the highway about 60 miles east of Fallon out in the snow capped, very remote desert peaks. We went up the very unstable, snow covered and now muddy road in our 2wd ambulance. About 10 miles in we turned around so we wouldn't get stuck. The sun was setting and we were unable to locate this man's vehicle which he was supposed to be a "couple of canyons north from". It was about 1700 when i spotted a blinking light about 1/2 mile off of the road and 1000 ft up a very steep mountainside. This was him, and it was amazing i saw him.

Realizing we were not able to make it up this mountain or even close to the foot of it, we requested out SAR helo from the Navy base (a seahawk which i had the pleasure of flying in to Reno the previous week). They responded trying to assemble a crew. At about this time, we were met by some of this man's friends in an H1 Hummer. They told us he was alone. I had my doubts that even an H1 could traverse the very severe terrain across the 1/2 mile to the base of the mountain, but they did and proceeded to hike the 1000 ft of maybe 50 degree incline, which to my amazement, they also accomplished (great friends indeed).

To shorten this story a little, the Navy reported they were now unable to fly, the medical helicopter (without a hoist) from reno turned around due to low fuel. This man's condition was deteriorating according to the friends via CB. Our only hope was to call the county SAR team and rely on 6 young ranch hand / cowboys to get to this man.

The ground was now frozen, we had been here for 2 hours, the man was dying, and I had to get to him. We were discouraged from going, but why else do i do this job? The horses were loaded with our ambulance gear and I hopped on with one of the cowboys.

We were able to make it across the 1/2 mile of rough desert to the base of the hill and about 100 yards up the mountain before it got too steep. Some of the best riders went on up and i trekked (with the dying man's son) the rest of the way carrying a backboard and some other equipment. I'm 25, in good physical shape, but proceeded to vomit after the 1000 ft of snow covered, jagged rocks.

At near 6000 ft with the most amazing sky above, on a jagged hillside around a precariously placed campfire, his colossal big horn sheep kill, with his son, two friends, six cowboys and a paramedic, that man died. It was now 2000 hrs.

The ground SAR team arrived at the road (now a little train of lights far below) but we told them we would handle the recovery. I have to hand it to those cowboys, most no older than 20. Real wild west kids. We packed down all of the gear, the deceased gentleman, and made it safely (albeit damn scary at times sliding towards a sheer 300 ft cliff, in the dark and snow) to the rescue crews below.

I've had a lot of amazing experiences so far (yes even though I'm young, I'm well travelled growing up in a Navy family), but this was an adventure I'll never forget.

-Tyler

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skysix

Adventurer
Just remember to ALWAYS weigh the risks/benefits - for the whole team not just you and the patient. Which means you must know their capabilities and limitations under the current and possible conditions for the duration of the rescue. You may not be the IC but you still 'drive' the rescue effort as the lead medic on the rescue. Don't get tunnel vision.

That said - Strong work. Glad you all made it back safely to do it again - so many things could have gone cattywompus (love that word!). Sometimes the best efforts fail - but the family will appreciate the efforts your team made.
 

1leglance

2007 Expedition Trophy Champion, Overland Certifie
I agree that it is amazing in that country you don't have 4wd....
amazing story and it make me glad to work in a major urban ICU where I am warm and toasty waiting for your work to arrive :)
 

BC-Luc

New member
Tyler,

Your drive and determination to help a person in need will always be respected and appreciated by those involved.

Keep up the great work.

Luc
 

762X39

Explorer
At near 6000 ft with the most amazing sky above, on a jagged hillside around a precariously placed campfire, his colossal big horn sheep kill, with his son, two friends, six cowboys and a paramedic, that man died.

As odd as it seems,the outcome was not bad.A father died after a phenomenal hunt surrounded by his son,friends and 7 strangers who cared.Sometimes the best you can do is hold a hand providing comfort, a few kind words and care while someone passes on.:coffee:
 

Youngunner

Adventurer
He certainly died doing the thing he loved the most. It was more frustrating that the navy base was so hesitant to send a helicopter. We have been having extremely foggy nights in Fallon and it was that way when we returned to town, but not at the time we requested a helo. That being said, this is an all weather, combat rescue helicopter that prides itself with flying in the worst of conditions and I recall seeing a lot of navy jets all over the sky too. It was very unfortunate because they really wasted our time as we waited for a yes or no. I'm sure that guy's friends would have tried to drag him down had they known nobody was coming.
 

Redline

Likes to Drive and Ride
Great work young Sir.

A great reminder that respect, duty, and maturity has little to do with age and much to do with character.
 

762X39

Explorer
A friend of mines husband died (on the east coast of Canada) after a SAR mission when the Sea King he was a sartech on crashed on the way back to base.My mom said it was ironic that he would die on a rescue in Canada (peacetime) but had survived missions in the former Yugo with both the Serbs and Croats planting their sights on him. Yes the people that let helos fly are very conservative and sometimes frustrating but as you know, if the first responders die during the rescue, no one is saved.You did a good job out there.You are young and will do many more rescues and many more recoveries.Keep up the good work and God bless.:coffee:
 

scarysharkface

Explorer
Thank you for the work you do.

I'm nearly finished with the book "Deep Survival" that has been loaned to me by another member here, and I highly recommend it to you and everyone else who likes adventure. I think you would appreciate and understand what it has to say about where your head goes in stressful times like your mountainside rescue/recovery.

At the very least, you helped him not die alone. He passed with people who loved him, which is as much as any of us could ever hope for.

John
 

MtnFlyer

New member
Tyler,

I fly helicopters, I've had the pleasure of working with SAR teams here in BC, and I've had to pull bodies out of bad places. I only fly daylight SAR as it is way to sketchy at night. It takes strong crew teamwork to do it safely in the dark and I never get the same crew twice. No matter what I fly, the rule on board is if anyone, no matter how little experience, feels that the situation is beyond their comfort zone - we go back no questions asked. I also have final say in the go/no go. That way we don't jeopardize more people.

I don't think you blame your partner for feeling the situation was beyond his safety zone (and I inferred this from your post). As for communication taking a long time (I'm a former military officer) nothing gets done quickly in the military unless you have crews on alert.

Hold your head up high, be proud of what you do and the feeling of safety you provide to the rest of us, and feel honored that you were able to be with someone who passed doing what they enjoyed and in the presence of family and friends.

Don
 

skysix

Adventurer
SAR Helo delays

I served with a Canadian SAR squadron and echo the above. MAST helo's or getting a Blackhawk is NOT the same as requesting a dedicated (on standby ready to go) civilian helo. Crews are off duty at home, approval needs to go up and down the chain of command, they don't know who is going to be setting up the LZ, sounds like weather was marginal (you have to plan for the DURATION of the mission - not just at the time of call), a high(er) altitude pickup off a treed slope in the mountains where winds are unknown and unpredictable is a high risk evolution even in daylight and so on.

Frankly, I'm not surprised they did refuse - but I agree the 'not knowing' is a pain when you are the groundpounder who is already vested in the rescue. As a former 2IC of a GSAR unit and having flown many SAR's if I was on that helo crew I'd have been asking for good details before launching and would be surprised if the SQN commander would have OK'd the launch even if the entire crew was OK with the planned flight profile based on what I read in your post and my experience flying in east-central Nevada (Ely).

There have been far to many rescue personnel killed at night, in poor weather, in hilly areas. I've lost 3 partners, 3 friends and another 18 acquaintances since I started flying as a medic in '91.
 

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