A team of rescue volunteers gave up time with their families on Thanksgiving to help a hiker who broke their leg on a Utah canyon, officials said.
And while several people said they should have been at home celebrating the holiday, the rescuers said it “feels good to help (and) provide service on Thanksgiving” — even amid the cold weather and freezing water they waded through during the rescue.
“We got her out ok,” rescuers added in the post.
Photos show the Nov. 28 rescue in Little Wild Horse Canyon. Two minutes before noon, the dispatch center received a notification the hiker had broken her leg while hiking the canyon, the Emery County Sheriff’s Office said on Facebook.
The area is about a 230-mile drive south from Salt Lake City.
“While most of us were overindulging with wonderful food and taking the opportunity to be thankful for the things in our lives, the Emery County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Team was out in the cold at Little Wild Horse Canyon doing what they do best,” the agency said.
The team carried rescue equipment on foot almost to the top of the canyon, officials said. Goblin Valley State Park employees also helped rescuers.
They found the 37-year-old hiker, applied first aid to her broken lower right leg and packaged her for transport on a stretcher, officials said. With the help from other hikers, the team carried her for over a quarter mile through “rough and technical terrain,” the agency said.
A medical helicopter then flew her to a hospital.
- Two Workers Rescued from Trench at CO Construction Site
- Greenport (NY) Rescue Squad Expands Life-Saving Capabilities
- Yakima (WA) EMT to Be Honored for Off-Duty Rescue
Photos show the team hiking through the narrow canyon with rescue equipment, providing first aid and then crouching beneath slanted canyon walls in the waist-deep water.
“These rescuers put themselves in very difficult and dangerous places to help others when they should have been home dealing with a food coma and cheering on the Lions or Bears, the Giants or Cowboys, or the Dolphins or Packers,” officials said. “Instead of resting from their labors for a few hours and dozing off in the (La-Z-Boy) they are wading through waist deep freezing water doing their best to remember to lift with their legs instead of their backs.”
Firefighter plunges up to 50 feet during hike and dies on Utah trail, officials say
Hiker hears cry for help and finds man who fell from Arizona mountain, rescuers say
Teen hurt in ski crash shows ‘no vital signs,’ official says. Then bystander steps in
___
(c)2024 the Merced Sun-Star (Merced, Calif.)
Visit the Merced Sun-Star (Merced, Calif.) at www.mercedsunstar.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
