Bedford Training Exercise Turns Into Real Rescue Of Injured Woman

BEDFORD, NH — Bedford Fire personnel planned a training session with NH Fish and Game to learn proper techniques for search, rescue, and injured people in the wilderness.

The classroom training on Tuesday taught how to best locate lost or injured people, and the tools Bedford has for them to extricate patients from the woods. The goal was to do realistic training in the wooded area around the Pulpit Rock area. Two crews went into the woods with the different scenarios the crews would practice.

About 30 minutes into the training, incident dispatch notified crews that a woman hiking on one of the trails had an injured ankle and could not walk out.

The two teams were challenged by poor radio reception in the area and little or no cell phone service. Dispatchers were able to communicate the location of the injured hiker, and the two teams in the wood headed in that direction.

Bedford fire dispatched an engine and ambulance to the Esther Drive area that was determined to be the best location to extricate the patient from the woods.

A normal Bedford fire shift would have only had four firefighters for the call which would have not been sufficient for the rescue. Due to the training occurring there were 12 people available to assist.

A huge help to responders was due to Mitchell Soederberg of Troop 5 in Bedford who recently completed his Eagle Scout project. Soederberg knew responders always face challenges locating hikers due to the multiple trails in the area and poor cell coverage.

The Eagle Scout project placed color-coded 3 by 3 signs with labels much like mile markers throughout the trails. Hikers can reference their location using the signs and provide an emergency code so emergency responders can tell where this person is.

Responders were able to use GPS coordinates, and the signs the hiker communicated and immediately knew where the injured woman was.

Using a map provided by Soederberg the incident commander could coordinate the best possible place to extricate the patient, and what resources would be needed.

Firefighters reached the woman and stabilized the patient, and packaged her to be carried out on a stokes basket. Earlier in the morning firefighters learned about using a device called a “mule” which places a one-wheel carriage device under the stokes basket enabling it to be moved quickly, and smoothly.

Paramedics administered first-aid and pain control to the patient who was placed in a waiting ambulance about 1-hour after the initial call for help.

The hard work of an Eagle Scout combined with the Bedford firefighters training at the right place at the right time made the difference for the patient.

©Jeffrey Hastings www.frameofmindphoto.com/news