Navy helicopter makes second airlift rescue from Whatcom high country in a week
A helicopter search and rescue team from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island airlifted a 28-year-old female hiker after she suffered a compound arm fracture Wednesday, June 3, on the Twin Sisters in Whatcom County.
Two hikers had been hiking at approximately 5,000 feet near the west ridge North Twin when one of them accidentally dislodged a rock, which fell on the female hiker below, breaking her arm and causing several lacerations, Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Kevin Hester told The Bellingham Herald in an email. The other hiker immediately applied a tourniquet to stop the bleeding, made a sling for her arm and covered her with a blanket.
The other hiker then attempted to call for help, Hester said, but spotty cellular service in the area made it difficult to locate the hikers.
Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue deputies, Whatcom County Fire District 14 crews and a Homeland Security helicopter searched the area for approximately two hours without finding the hikers, Hester said.
The Navy search and rescue team was notified at approximately 5 p.m. and arrived at approximately 6 p.m. After a 10-minute coordinated search with the Homeland Security helicopter, the Navy helicopter crew found the injured hiker and her companion.
Cloud cover obscured the hiker’s location, according to the release, but the Navy helicopter was able to rappel two crew members to the ground to prepare the hiker, and at approximately 7 p.m., she was hoisted aboard and transported to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
“Without the Navy’s assistance, the patient would have had to endure a several hour ride in our wheeled litter, as well as an hour in our ambulance to the hospital,” a District 14 Facebook post stated.
Naval Air Station Whidbey Island search and rescue crews have conducted 21 total missions through the state this year, including three searches, 10 rescues and eight medical evaluations, the release stated.
Wednesday’s rescue was the second in the past week in Whatcom County, as a skier was airlifted to St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham after injuring a shoulder Friday, May 29, in a fall on Mount Baker’s Coleman Glacier.
This story was originally published June 4, 2020 at 10:00 AM.
