Yesterday afternoon at 3:40 pm, Company 11 (Potomac Valley) and neighboring Ambulance 198 (Frederick County MD) were alerted for an Inaccessible Patient on MD Heights with a leg injury.
Chief 11 (Otzelberger Jr) in Car 11 and Support 11-7 with ATV 11 arrived on Sandy Hook Rd at the trail entrance.
Having g further information, Chief 11 established ” MD Heights Command” and requested the full Mountain Rescue Response, bringing additional fire/rescue resources along with Gator 8 (Boonsboro Fire.
Chief 11 along with Atv 11s Crew proceeded up the trail. The additional units responding where directed by Chief 11 to Miller Ave on the otherside of the mountain to access from that end.
Chief 6 (Boonsboro Fire) arrived at the Miller Ave access point where he took over “MD Heights Command” and Chief 11 took “Rescue Group Supervisor “.
Gator 8 along with additional personal on foot begain working their way down the Miller Ave access. Crews encountered numerous trees down blocking the trail, where they had to cut their way through.
At 4:11 pm, the crew on ATV 11 made contact with the patient, where the begain to stabilize the patient.
Due to the trail conditions coming up from Sandy Hook Rd, the long way out to Miller Ave along with the time frame to extricate the patients, Command along with the Rescue Group Supervisor began to come up with a plan to remove the Patient.
With this going on, MD Heights Command recieved a phone call from a MD State Police Aviation Division Supervisor asking if they could be of any assistance with a Hoist Operation.
Having a Hoist Operation by Helicopter being the quickest way out of the woods and safest way, Command asked the MSP Aviation Division to start that way.
Trooper 2 from the MD State Police Aviation Division – Andrew’s Air Force Base being the closest aircraft at that time proceeded towards MD Heights with a 30 minute ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival).
Having Trooper 2 in the area, crews on scene with the patient moved the patient to an area clear of trees where the Trooper could safely conduct a Hoist Operation.
The patient was safely loaded onto Troopet 2s basket and hoisted onto the Helicopter. Once onboard Trooper 2, the Helicopter went from Hoist Operation to Medivac operations and transported the patient to a local hospital.
Having the Patient in the Trooper, crews on Foot, by ATV and Gator began the trip out of the mountain. Once all Fire/Rescue personnel were safely out of the mountain, crews gathered back at the Command Post before clearing and going inservice. In all personnel Operated for about 3.5 hrs.
Company 11 Units:
Car 11, Support 11-7, ATV 11
