Grand County rescue crews spent a critical 48 hours last week, responding to three serious accidents with one of them fatal.
Grand County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue teams rescued two separate mountain bikers in serious accidents along with a fatal base jumping accident.
The first incident occurred on July 19 and involved a mountain biker with a serious leg injury that left him stranded on the Big Mesa mountain bike trail. Crews say the 53-year-old man had crawled for several hours before he could reach cell service to call for help. Grand County Emergency Medical Services (EMS) responded to the man and he was airlifted to a local hospital for injury treatment.
The next morning on July 20, rescue crews responded to a fatal base jumping accident near Parriott Mesa in Castle Valley. Officials say retrieving the 32-year-old man required two helicopters and a rope system due to his location. He was found at the “top of a rugged and hazardous talus slope more than 1,000 feet above the valley floor.”
The first helicopter transported emergency crews to the man’s location and the second helicopter from the Utah Department of Public Safety (DPS) with hoist capability utilized a rope system to lower the man about 100 feet to a spot where he could be easily loaded into the first copter. Officials say the entire rescue took about six hours.
EXPLORE: This unique Utah spot is naturally cold all year-round, with wintry temps in summer
On July 21, a 50-year-old man was stranded after crashing his mountain bike on a remote section of the Porcupine Rim Trail.
Crews say the man had already run out of water before crashing and being stranded amid scorching triple-digit temperatures. The man was in contact with rescue crews when officials say it became clear the man’s “condition was deteriorating.”
Officials sped up the rescue process by flying a local EMT to his location as ground crews would take several hours before reaching him. The man was later airlifted to a local hospital in Grand Junction, Colo. for injury treatment. All rescue crews returned to Moab by 11 p.m. that same evening.
“The Grand County Sheriff’s Office is a full-service agency that includes Patrol, Investigations, Court Security, Dispatch, Emergency Management and Search and Rescue Divisions. We are proud to oversee the public safety for our residents and 2.5 million annual tourists who visit the 3,684 square miles that comprise Grand County, Utah.”
Original source can be found here.
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