Saturday morning, just after 10:00 am, the Illinois Valley Fire District and American Medical Response was dispatched to a vehicle over a cliff. The vehicle was not visible from the road. Good Samaritan Laurie Bowers of Happy Camp, noticed the skid marks, stopped to investigate, and upon discovery of the vehicle called 911.
Arriving units found a vehicle 50 ft. over and down the embankment on an approximately 40 degree plus slope. A single tree was holding the vehicle from going another 1000 ft. plus to the bottom of the ravine. The vehicle was secured using the winch from an Illinois Valley Fire District rescue apparatus.
Patient care was initiated by Illinois Valley Fire District and an American Medical Response paramedic. The patient had been in the vehicle since 2:00 am. The patient was hypothermic with a badly fractured leg and was bleeding internally.
The crews on the road set up a rope haul system and lowered equipment to remove the patient. The patient was stabilized and extrication completed. This was a very difficult rescue due to the degree of slope and the location of the patient. His first words to the rescuers were “I thought I was going to die in my car”.
The Patient was transported by American Medical Response to the Snow Park and transferred to the Mercy Flights helicopter and flown to Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center.
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