SOUTHERN UTAH, Utah — Since July, Utah Department of Public Safety’s Aero Bureau has had a permanent presence in Southern Utah and their services have been critical to saving lives.
The DPS helicopter has conducted roughly 15 hoist operations in Southern and Central Utah, including one on Monday morning.
A 72-year-old woman had fallen while hiking Red Mountain outside of Ivins. According to Washington County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue, the woman sustained serious head injuries. Between Washington County SAR and Santa Clara-Ivins Fire Rescue, more than a dozen rescuers went up the hill to reach the fallen woman. LifeFlight dropped off a nurse and a paramedic. According to first responders, the woman had to be intubated in order to keep her breathing. When rescuers realized that time was of the essence, they called the DPS Aero Bureau to perform a hoist operation, allowing the patient to be transported to a staging area in a matter of minutes. During the hoist, a rescue specialist used the bag valve masks to provide airflow to the patient.
“Every minute that it takes for you to get them off the hill is critical, it’s critical in their survival and their recovery,” said Sgt. Darrell Cashin with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office. “Having the helicopter here really cuts down on that time.”
Sgt. Cashin says the DPS Aero Bureau capabilities span beyond hoist operations, such as when the helicopter assists agencies on other incidents, like vehicle pursuits. He says they’re able to add an extra element of performing these operations safely.
🎥I'm always in awe of the work the @UtahDPS Aero Bureau does on the daily.
— 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐞𝐞 (@brian_schnee) December 7, 2022
Here's video from a fallen hiker rescue in So. Utah:
The rescue specialist using a ventilator to provide airflow every 5 seconds WHILE being hoisted to the helicopter. @UTHighwayPatrol | @fox13 pic.twitter.com/F4pDy6OJnh
“It’s made things safer for us,” said Sgt. Cashin, noting the ‘time saved’ during operations where the DPS helicopter is involved. “We all understand each other’s capabilities a lot better, we also realize a helicopter isn’t always an answer to everything but it sure has made it easier for us.”
“We’ve been fairly busy,” said Sgt. Kyle Curtis, a Tactical Flight Officer with the DPS Aero Bureau in Southern Utah. “We’ve had a good number of calls throughout this fall, ya know we’ve hit some waves of slower times and it picks back up and I feel like we’re on an uptick right now of calls for service.”
Since beginning service, Sgt. Curtis believes most of their calls during what he described as ‘the busy time’ had come in the area of Garfield County.
“Being able to cut that time down instead of making a three- or four-hour rescue to a half hour to an hour maximum, that’s significant and I think we provide a good service,” said Sgt. Curtis. “We’re just glad to be out and help where we can, we appreciate the support we’ve gotten here, everybody’s been super welcoming and very supportive, we appreciate it.”
