Thanks to the swift response of Arrowsmith Search and Rescue (ASAR), an injured biker along the HammerFest mountain biking trails was in the back of an ambulance within an hour and 10 minutes from when a call was received.
On Sunday, Aug. 1, at 11:13 a.m., ASAR was dispatched to the chain of interconnected biking trails near the Englishman River Falls Provincial Park, to recover the injured woman who had been biking with her friends.
Nick Rivers, search and rescue manager, said they were unsure of how she came off her bike, but the incident led to a lower leg injury.
“It wasn’t an obvious break but it could have been a break, or a fracture, or a severe sprain.”
He said she was found along the powerline access road near where it intersected with other mountain bike trails.
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As per procedure, ASAR determined her exact location by ‘pinging’ her cellphone and utilizing its GPS tracking. Rivers noted several people along the trail also pointed them to her.
“She was unable to walk, so we got in there with our off-road UTV (utility task vehicle), put her into a stretcher, put the stretcher into the UTV and drove her up to the roadside where the ambulance was waiting.”
Once in the ambulance, she was taken to the Oceanside Health Centre in Parksville for treatment.
In total, 10 ASAR members were called out – three advanced medical personnel, three team leaders and four team members.
“We like to send as many people as we can because you never know what to expect,” said Rivers.