A hiker is lucky to be alive after falling from a ledge while hiking in Arizona. Fortunately, he didn't have to be alone. The incident happened on New Year's Day.
In a press release, the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office detailed what happened. A 55-year-old hiker injured his leg after falling from a ledge. Rescuers came to bring the man to safety, but they encountered difficulties with the environment. For one, the area flooded, making transporting the hiker both difficult and dangerous.
"Plunging temperatures and steady precipitation created a risk for hypothermia, with both the injured hiker and rescue team members beginning to experience symptoms," officials wrote. Rescuers made the difficult decision to wait until things cleared. They stayed with the injured man, starting a fire to keep everyone warm.
They wrote, "A SAR team remained with the hiker throughout the night, maintaining a fire to provide warmth in the cold conditions. Additionally, flooding prevented first responders from transporting the patient to safety by ground."
Arizona Hiker Injured
Rescuers were hopeful that aerial support could help transport the injured hiker out of the area. But bad weather made it difficult and prompted multiple rescue operations to be scrapped. The sheriff contacted the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs (DEMA) for a Black Hawk chopper to complete the rescue.
"Following a night of coordination on the mountain, the Black Hawk crew successfully extracted the patient at 7:45 AM today [Friday, Jan. 2] and transported him to the waiting medical personnel," officials wrote.
"They're trained in basic survival techniques: lighting fires, splints, and providing a lean-to-shelter for people who are injured in crazy predicaments," he told Fox affiliate KSAZ.
