“C” Shift – Trauma injury with Air Evacuation

Incident # 10-06611 – A hunter who fell approximately 30 feet from a tree, received multiple traumatic injuries Tuesday evening 7-December. At 21:56 9-1-1 Operators received a call reporting the incident. According to a witness, the man’s friends had spent nearly five hours searching for him, finding him injured deep in the woods off of the 7500 block of Round O Road. One noted it was just a miracle they were able to locate him in the pitch black darkness. One searcher just happened to hear the man calling for help. He was unable to walk.

Medic 9 responded to a small logging road to meet up with a four wheeler and traveled about ½ mile into the woods before the road became impassable for the ambulance. Battalion 1, Truck 12 and a volunteer firefighter, all with 4x4 trucks drove deeper into the woods until the road no longer existed. Medic 9’s crew was taken by four wheeler through the woods until they could locate the patient.

The man suffered multiple injuries and was hypothermic, having been exposed for five hours in below freezing temperatures. He was treated and immobilized, then placed on a four wheeler for a slow trip out of the woods. He was transported back to the volunteer firefighter’s 4x4 pickup truck, which then carried him to Medic 9. A medical helicopter was requested, with a landing zone set up in a field about two miles from the scene. Omniflight-Charleston responded and flew the man to the Trauma Center at MUSC in Charleston.

Medic 9, Battalion 1 and Truck 12 responded. Battalion Chief Dan Barb served as Incident Commander.