Injured hiker gets a lift out of steep terrain at Knights Ferry
A Cal Fire helicopter came to the rescue of a man injured on a hike in northern Stanislaus County on Sunday.
The hiker was injured when he slipped and fell along the Stanislaus River in Knights Ferry. The man was unable to hike back out so had to be rescued by helicopter.
Firefighters received the report of the hiker, who was hurt east of the historic covered bridge, about noon.
A second person hiking with the man walked about a mile over steep terrain to meet responding Modesto Fire Department personnel and then guided them back in, Battalion Chief Jesse Nicasio said. The patient was found on top of a rock outcropping in the middle of the river, he said.
The man suffered a lower leg injury that prevented him from getting out of his predicament, Nicasio said. Rescuers assessed the situation and decided it would be too time-intensive and dangerous to either carry out the man or use a rope system to pull him out of the canyon.
The decision was made to request a Cal Fire helicopter, Nicasio said, so a Modesto Fire division chief called the Cal Fire Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit and got permission.
The copter crew lowered a rescuer, and the victim — deemed stable for transport — was put into a harness. The rescuer and victim were carried out of the canyon, hoisted into the copter and taken to a landing zone set up by Modesto Fire at the nearby Army Corps of Engineers facility.
The patient was then transferred to Oak Valley Ambulance for ground transport to a hospital.
This story was originally published July 27, 2020 at 12:04 PM.
