SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, May 17, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) — A 35-year-old man was seriously injured in a paragliding accident above This is the Place Heritage Park Tuesday night.
Salt Lake City Fire Battalion Chief Karl Steadman said the accident was called in to dispatchers by the injured man just before 8 p.m.
“He crashed above the park and required our assistance to get him off the hill. Our heavy rescue teams were able to locate him quite quickly and assess his injuries,” Steadman said.
“We had to bring him down on a ‘big wheel,’ but we were able to get him off the hill. He was familiar enough with the area that he was able to help rescue teams locate him.”
Steadman said the man was able to use a compass app to help their crews match up coordinates and get to him faster.
“If you bring up the numbers at the bottom of the screen on this Compass app, those are the coordinates. If you can give that information to us, then we can use our GPS to locate you. It makes it easier for us to find you,” Steadman said.
“We have started to see a lot of these accidents; in fact, just last week we responded to another similar incident.”
The man was taken by ambulance to the hospital with serious injuries.
“Any time you go up in the mountains or if you are going up to do any activity, you need to leave word of where you are going with friends or leave a note with the date and time on your vehicle,” Steadman said. “Had this man been unconscious, he could have been in trouble.”
