STANTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — It’s that time of year when it seems like just about everyone wants to go for a hike and experts say having a plan in place for the unexpected can be life-saving.
Technical rescue specialist, Jeremy Urekew, has been on the other side of what was supposed to be an ‘easy hike’ more times than he can remember with Red STAR Wilderness EMS.
“It seems like an easy hike when you’re going in. It’s really difficult when you can’t walk and someone has to carry you out,” said Urekew.
Red STAR Wilderness EMS is volunteer-based, the first and only wilderness EMS servicing the gorge.
As a member of Red STAR Wilderness EMS, Urekew has helped provide emergency medical services for the gorge for years, following along with the search and rescue teams who respond to calls for help if medical aid is needed.
This Saturday, he rendered aid to the person who fell 90 feet off a cliff and survived.
“We couldn’t see him down there, we could only hear him. He had no flashlight, no anything. He was moaning and groaning, so we had found some alternative ways to be able to go down and around to the bottom,” said Urekew.
Urekew was the paramedic that began initial care and assessment.
“The rest of the team gathered at the top and began a technical rope rescue system to be able to retrieve him from all the way down and back up. In the course of that, the weather deteriorated rapidly. Some thunder and lightning came in, which complicated the situation,” said Urekew.
Rescuers with Powell County Search and Rescue, Tri-County Volunteer Fire Department, Middlefork Fire and Rescue, and Lee County Search and Rescue spent several hours getting the victim from his remote location to where the ambulance was staged.
“We had to enlist the help of multiple jurisdictions. One of the jurisdictions brought a ATV with a litter cart that we could take this victim off-road and get them out,” said Urekew.
Urekew says the victim’s fall was broken and he was able to communicate and survive. He says any fall, if landed incorrectly, could be fatal.
On average, the Red River Gorge sees about 60 rescues a year, with a spike typically during summer.
On the first weekend of spring weather in Kentucky, Powell and Wolfe County Search and Rescue Teams Responded to three separate serious falls.
One victim is still hospitalized.
Dr. Jonathan Bronner, associate professor of emergency medicine and director of simulation based education with the College of Medicine and Department of Emergency Medicine, says the University of Kentucky’s Trauma Center gets a bulk of the injury calls as the only Level I Trauma Center outside of Louisville.
"We see things from extreme climbers falling from Red River Gorge, hundreds of feet, to people even doing local hikes at some of our parks, that are falling down creek banks and smaller rocks too," said Bronner. “And they come in with any number of extremities from their head to their torso.”
The main injuries they see are to ankles and wrists. Bronner says weather is a factor.
"Once the weather starts getting nice, we lovingly refer to that as trauma season. Not because we're looking for it, but because people are out doing more things," said Bronner.
David Fifer is a founder and paramedic with Red Star Wilderness EMS. He also teaches as director of the EKU Center for Wilderness & Outdoor Public Safety.
He says falls from cliffs happen every year at the gorge.
“It’s not any more dangerous than any other kind of activity but, you know, if you find yourself stranded overnight and you don't have a flashlight and your cell battery goes bad and you run out of water, you know something that could have been just an enjoyable trip suddenly turns into a full-blown emergency,” said Fifer.
Here are David’s Safety Tips:
1. Tell someone where you will be and what time to expect you.
“That way if you get into some sort of trouble and you need to be rescued that way people know where you are and at what time you're expected to be back,” said Fifer.
2. Make sure you’re prepared for an unexpected night in the woods:
- Make sure your cell phone is fully charged and consider bringing a backup battery brick.
- Make sure the location settings on your phone are set up correctly to allow sharing of your location.
- Bring plenty of water and some salty snacks/electrolyte tablets. The balance of sodium and water you consume is just as important as consuming water itself.
- Pace yourself and play it safe! Put pride aside and err on the side of risk management.
- Carry trail maps, which can almost always be found online these days. Cell phone batteries die, and you won't always have service of course. Even if you aren't great at reading maps or using a compass, a simple paper map can usually help you get oriented.
- Strongly consider taking a basic wilderness first aid course
3. Do a little research.
“Do a little bit of research and know your limits. Look into the trail system, look at the weather forecast. Give some real thought to your own physical fitness. What kind of footwear, what kind of clothing do you have," said Fifer.
