WASHINGTON COUNTY, Utah, Nov. 14, 2020 (Gephardt Daily) — Teenagers hiking near Pine Valley were rescued by Washington County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue with assistance from other agencies overnight Wednesday into Thursday morning.
“Due to the remoteness of the patients, this rescue involved multiple air assets,” said a WCSO SAR post on Facebook. The post said the hikers were “experiencing medical issues.”
Intermountain Medical Center’s Life Flight helicopter, unable to find a landing spot near the group, dropped off medical personnel who then hiked at least two miles to reach the teens who, in addition to their medical conditions, were stranded in deep snow.
Life Flight doesn’t have the ability to hoist an injured patient, so a call went out for a chopper with hoist capabilities, and two Blackhawk helicopters from Nellis Air Force Base responded and brought the patients out using “short haul” systems, the WCSO SAR post said.
Washington County Search and Rescue, Life Flight and Blackhawk helicopters from Nellis AFB responded to a group of teens stranded in snow near Pine Valley and having medical issues late Wednesday into Thursday, Nov. 12, 2020. Photo: WCSO SAR/Facebook
It bugs my flying family that you keep calling these pavehawks from Nellis AFB “Blackhawks”… please learn the correct terms. Blackhawks are Army, Pavehawks are Air Force.