SW Arizona News

From February 09, 2023 post.

TRAINING: MOCK SEARCH AND RESCUE FOR DPS TRAINING EVALUATION

Last Tuesday (1/31) morning, Mohave County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue coordinated a mock search and rescue with the Department of Public Safety Western Air Rescue Helicopter team for a training evaluation of a rescue specialist / flight medic. Search teams in the training area requested the Western Air Rescue helicopter’s support in locating an injured hunter in the Hualapai Mountains, near Devil’s Dip. The crew of three launched from the hanger at KRMC and began searching the northwestern side of the Hualapai Mountains, while searchers were on the ground conducting a route and location search. The helicopter located the injured hunter in a heavily rocky area that was not accessible by vehicle. Needing to reconfigure for a rappel and short-haul, Search and Rescue secured a landing zone and the helicopter landed. Search and Rescue assisted with the reconfiguration of the aircraft. The helicopter then went back and the rescue specialist in training had another medic rappel down from the helicopter to the injured hunter to perform an assessment and prepare him for a short-haul operation – where the medic that rappelled down is secured by a 150 ft rope with the injured hunter who was secured in a screamer suit (used for rapid extrication without using a full body harness). They were then flown to the landing zone and would be transferred for further medical evaluation. It is great to have another rescue specialist / flight medic with our State’s DPS Air Rescue crew and we look forward to future field operations! Great job by everyone involved.

Original source can be found here.