Whidbey Island SAR Conducts Five Rescues in Three Days

NAS Whidbey Island, WA – A Search and Rescue (SAR) team from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island conducted five rescues between Friday, August 10th and Monday, August 13th.

According to a release from Thomas Mills, Public Affairs Specialist with NAS Whidbey Island, on Friday, a SAR team was dispatched to a sand bar on the Queets River about 9-miles Southwest of Mount Olympus for a female patient that was suffering from a severe reaction to a bee sting. Bystanders had administered a dose of Epinephrine from an EPI Pen but the female required further medical attention. The SAR team transported her to Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles, WA around 11 a.m.

Later that same afternoon, a SAR team picked up a hiker who had fallen and suffered a broken leg and head injuries near Olympic National Park. The injured hiker was transported to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle just before 4:00 p.m.

On Saturday morning, August 11th, a SAR team rescued two climbers who were stuck on a cliff near Goat Wall in Okanogan County, Northwest of Winthrop. The climbers, who were not injured, were hoisted aboard the helicopter and dropped off at Lost River Airport, just North of Mazama, WA around 7:00 a.m.

On Saturday afternoon, a call came in for a rescue of a hiker with a broken leg on Mount Stuart in the Cascade Mountains. The injured hiker was successfully hoisted onto the aircraft and delivered a littler after 2:00 p.m. to an ambulance waiting at Pangborn Memorial Hospital in East Wenatchee.

On Monday morning, August 13th, SAR received a call requesting assistance for a hiker who had experienced significant trauma from falling boulders around the 6,500 foot level of base camp at Mount Baker. The injured hiker had spinal injuries and was hypothermic. SAR crews transported the hiker to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle around 6:30 a.m.

NAS Whidbey Island SAR, has conducted 41 total missions throughout Washington State this year, including 29 rescues, eight searches and four medical evacuations.

The Navy SAR unit operates three MH-60S helicopters from NAS Whidbey Island as search and rescue/medical evacuation (SAR/MEDEVAC) platforms for the EA-18G aircraft as well as other squadrons and personnel assigned to the installation. Pursuant to the National SAR Plan of the United States, the unit may also be used for civil SAR/MEDEVAC needs to the fullest extent practicable on a non-interference basis with primary military duties according to applicable national directives, plans, guidelines and agreements; specifically, the unit may launch in response to tasking by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center (based on a Washington State Memorandum of Understanding) for inland missions, and/or tasking by the United States Coast Guard for all other aeronautical and maritime regions, when other assets are unavailable.