Volunteers with the Alberni Valley Rescue Squad rescued a hiker injured in a web of trails near Cold Creek Falls, late Thursday, Sept. 2.
The rescue squad received a call-out at 8:20 p.m. to search for the the injured hiker, whose location was not pinpointed. Members searched an area of braided trails and access roads on foot, in vehicles and utility terrain vehicles (UTVs) and spotted the hiker at around midnight.
Members from the Cherry Creek Volunteer Fire Dept. were also on scene to help stabilize the hiker’s injuries. Once the hiker was bundled up by an AVRS medical team they were transported via UTV to a waiting BC Ambulance crew and taken to West Coast General Hospital for treatment.
“(Alberni Valley Rescue Squad) would like to thank Cherry Creek Fire Dept. for their assistance in locating and stabilizing the subject,” an AVRS spokesperson wrote in a social media post. “We appreciate working with such a dedicated crew!”
Ground search and rescue crews such as AVRS operate with specially trained volunteers and are part of a provincewide B.C. Search and Rescue Association. Whenever one of these crews is called out to help people lost or injured in B.C.’s outdoors, no one receives a charge or bill for their services.
The BCSARA last week produced a series of videos to explain this, according to Chris Kelly, president of BCSARA. “We produced these videos to clarify with the public that they should never hesitate to call 911 for help,” Kelly said.
To find out more about volunteer search and rescue crews in B.C., visit the BCSARA website at bcsara.com.