Jun 24, 2008 5:27 pm US/Eastern
Helicopter Teams Have Success With First Rescue
BALTIMORE COUNTY, Md. (WJZ) ―
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A dramatic rescue of a hiker who fell was captured live by Sky Eye Chopper 13.
CBS
A dramatic rescue of a hiker who fell was captured live by
Sky Eye Chopper 13.
Mike Schuh reports
Eyewitness News was also the first to show you the helicopter teams training for that very moment: their first rescue.
Just how do you get to dangling below a rescue chopper? Sarah Harvey, 30, took her dog for a hike.
"It's pretty rugged down there," said Bud Schaefer.
"It's very rough terrain," said Fire Department Lt. Michael Burnham.
She tried to lift her golden retriever, Norman, out of the water and felt a terrible pain. She called her mother.
"And something snapped in her back and she was on a rock and she couldn't move," said her mother, Susan Rodney. "Then the phone went dead."
Her phone has GPS and her dog barked loudly.
"So I called 911 and they found her fast," Rodney said.
Though not seriously injured, firemen could have been because of the steep terrain.
"It would have meant them carrying her up about half a mile up a rocky incline," said BCPD Aviation Supervisor Sgt. Ron Wise.
Just four days earlier, the county police and fire completed training to hoist victims using the chopper and a newly installed winch. Tuesday was their first rescue.
Sarah spun eight times on her way up and her hands covered her face, blocking the intense downdraft from the chopper. It took less than a minute to get her up and secured.
From there, they flew over near the dam, where the process is repeated in reverse. She said that she wasn't scared. She says the only time that happened was before she was found. She trusted all the firemen and police who helped lift her to safety.
Once up near the dam, she was winched down, spinning 10 times along the way, down to waiting firemen. Then she was rolled to a waiting ambulance and taken to Sinai. She didn't have a broken back, but a severe back sprain.
This is just the type of rescue the police envisioned when they ordered the winch for their chopper.
"It couldn't have gone any more smoothly," Wise said.
Sarah Harvey, who works for the Maryland Department of the Environment, said she never had a helicopter ride before, but is embarrassed and humiliated that her first happened that way. She's home with a severe back sprain, taking medicine to ease the pain. She believes she'll be well enough to return to work on Friday.
Two of the three county choppers are equipped with winches. They're asking for a third to be added in the next county budget.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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