Jeep Hill
4-Wheeler Accident
October 11, 2023
Cedar City, Utah
At 6:02 P.M. on Wednesday, October 11, 2023, the Iron County Sheriff’s Search & Rescue (ICSSAR) volunteers and ropes team were paged to respond to a report of two occupants injured in a 4-Wheerler Accident in the area of Jeep Hill. They were informed it was a training call. The ICSSAR Sherrif Liaison, Corporal Michael Hilleger was able to secure the Southern Utah University (SUU) helicopter to assist with the training exercise.
When an individual is injured or ill, the team will seek the most efficient and safest way to extract the injured person(s) from the area to get them the medical attention they need. However, the utilization of these methods requires ongoing training due to their complexity. Given the type of terrain we have in Southern Utah, rescues can often be very complex and challenging. We’ve been increasing the use of helicopters in rescues due to their efficiency. We can typically cut down the time it takes to conduct a mission by hours, which is much appreciated by injured person(s) and our volunteers. We also rely heavily on our ropes team members to assist in complex rescues at locations like Kanarra Falls and the Ashdown Gorge Area. The training held yesterday was intentionally designed to combine these two complex response tools. The use of our ropes team and the use of a helicopter.
As you can see in the pictures, a system of pulleys is used to safely extract the injured party to a safe location for a helicopter hoist.
We extend our sincere gratitude to SUU Aviation for participating in this training along with Gold Cross Ambulance. Their involvement assisted in creating a real-life scenario. We had a good turn-out of Iron County Search and Rescue volunteers, Iron County Ropes team, Iron County Sheriff’s Office personnel, Gold Cross Ambulance as well as the SUU helicopter.
We are thankful for the incredible interagency collaboration and communication.
Thank you to our 3rd Sgt Chantry Brindley the absolutely stellar pictures and videos!
#IronCountySheriffsSearchAndRescue #ICSSAR #WeWillAlwaysComeToYou #Training #SupportSAR #SoThatOthersMayLive #SUU #HelicoptersInSAR
