BY LENNY JOSEPH
Firefighters safely extricated an injured paraglider off the steep terrain of Lookout Mountain east of Bellevue Tuesday evening.
Personnel from BC South Fire Protection District conducted a complex, multi-hour technical rope rescue with the help of Ketchum Fire Department and Sun Valley Fire Department.
The paraglider’s wing had collapsed in tangled lines, causing the pilot to crash around 5:35 p.m. Tuesday, May 19. A friend hiked to the patient’s location and called 911 at 9:25 p.m.
Nineteen firefighters and paramedics responded. Fifteen climbed the mountain; the other four staffed the command post to ensure there was coverage should any other calls come in.
Two firefighters and a paramedic climbed to the 6,000-foot level, reaching the patient at 10:45 p.m. There they found a paraglider with multiple traumatic injuries. The team assessed, stabilized and began pain management while packaging the paraglider in a bean bag litter and initiating hypothermia prevention measures as temperatures headed to 40 degrees.
A larger rescue team hauled a Stokes litter, ropes, clutches harnesses and two picket anchors packs, which weigh 70 pounds each given the sledgehammer and pickets they contain. At midnight the team executed three sequential rope lowers totaling 900 vertical feet. They used two sets of pickets to initiate a leapfrog anchor system as they moved down the terrain.
The medical team provided continuous advanced care for nearly four hours, administering multiple rounds of pain medication to keep the patient as comfortable as possible during the inherently rough litter lowers.
LifeFlight 76 responded, circled the scene and determined no safe landing zones existed near the patient. The helicopter staged at the command post, received the patient on the valley floor at 1:53 a.m., and departed for Portneuf Medical Center in Pocatello at 2:14 a.m.
All units cleared the scene by 2:15 a.m., with equipment cleanup completed by 3:30 a.m.
“This was a long-duration, personnel-intensive operation, but it went remarkably efficiently thanks to the skill, fitness and recent training of everyone involved,” said BCSFPD Operations Chief Bass Sears. “Our ropes class and refresher had just wrapped up the week before, so crews were sharp, using consistent tactics and equipment. The coordination between hasty and rescue teams, combined with strong mutual aid support, made the difference.”
The exhausted crews not only got the satisfaction of a job well done. But, as they returned to the station well after 3 a.m., they received welcome news that the ambulance levy had passed—a timely boost for the tired team.