High Sierra Topix

Effective teamwork and mutual aid throughout Mono County helps improve patient care. Many different agencies excel in different critical aspects of rescue — together we are a force! Great work to all yesterday:
August 12, 2024 24-428 #27

At approximately 1336 hours the Team was called to assist Bridgeport Volunteer Fire Department and Medic 7 with extraction of a 78-year-old female subject with reported post-fall leg and arm fractures near/above Red Lake in the Virginia Lakes basin. Rescue Base was established at the parking area for Big Virginia Lake (aka Big Valley Lake). It was reported that the subject was located on a steep, loose and off-trail slope where her fall had terminated. The first 2 MOSAR members to arrive, Team 1, packed medical and rigging gear and departed base.

As Medic 7 and Bridgeport Fire personnel were on scene with the subject and providing initial evaluation and treatment, Mono SAR Team 1 arrived with all equipment, including Bridgeport Fire’s wheeled litter picked up along the way. Team 1 assisted with packaging the subject in the steep and precarious location and loaded her into the full-body vacuum splint and subsequent wheeled litter. Team 1 also built an anchor system to provide a lowering system/belay for the litter team for the steep descent down the fall line of the slope.

As the litter team neared the end of their 200' line on the first lower, other Mono SAR field teams arrived on scene with additional manpower and rigging equipment, and a second lowering system/belay anchor was constructed with a 300' rope which was enough to get the litter team down to safe ground. The litter was wheeled back to the parking area and the subject was transferred into the Medic 7 unit, and she was delivered to Conway Summit to meet with a Careflight helicopter. Careflight transported the subject to Renown Medical Center in Reno, NV.

The operation was terminated at 1648 hours. Thank you Mono County EMS and Bridgeport Volunteer Fire Department for your excellent work.