Hope, BC - On Saturday, August 3 2013, Hope SAR was paged to respond to three separate incidents.
The first call came mid-afternoon to rescue a male who had ridden dirt bike over a steep embankment and had fallen over 200’ at Nickel Mining Rd. Kent Harrison SAR and Valley Helicopters brought in a Bell 407 and Chilliwack SAR members conducted a HETS (long-line) rescue. HETS technician Josef Seywerd was shocked by the dirt biker’s apparent good fortune. “Aside from a few scrapes he appears to be uninjured,” remarked Seywerd. The patient was transferred to an ambulance and transported to the hospital.
Afterward, our attention was turned to assist his friend who decided to go down and help his friend in need but he became a second casualty and with the assistance of Kent Harrison (Rope Team) the individual was pulled up out of danger , he was happy to be back on the trail.
Prior to the conclusion of this first call, Hope SAR was called to another emergency on the Coquihalla River at the popular Othello Tunnels area. Two young adults had been swimming in the river when they were overwhelmed by the current and swept downstream through a treacherous canyon to a section of the river between the first and second tunnel. The two swimmers were able to make it to shore, but both were trended on the far side of the river. Hope SAR was assisted by Valley Helicopter and the Chilliwack HETS by the use of long-line the injured female using the aerial rescue platform (ARP). The uninjured male was also evacuated by long-line.
A third call for assistance came minutes after rescuing the two swimmers and the Nickel mining Rd team was finish cleaning the first call. Hope SAR regrouped at Home Base and got the equipment needed to begin a search for a missing 16 year old boy who was hiking a few kilometres south of Silver Lake on the Skagit Valley Rd. The terrain was steep and rugged and it initially appeared as if the search might be a long one. Fortunately SAR teams located the teen, unharmed, just after 11:00pm. Mutual Aid was requested and Chilliwack SAR came to our assistance.