NAVAL AIR STATION WHIDBEY ISLAND, Wash. – A Search and Rescue (SAR) team from Naval Air Station (NAS) Whidbey Island rescued a hiker who had fallen in the Nisqually River the afternoon of Sunday, November 8, and conducted a medical evacuation (MEDEVAC) from Friday Harbor on San Juan Island in the early morning hours of Wednesday, November 11, 2020.
The SAR team responded to a call to rescue a male hiker Sunday from the southern side of Mt. Rainier on the Nisqually River at approximately 4,500 feet elevation. The crew encountered heavy cloud cover from 4,000-7,000 feet, but were able to make it to the river 4 miles downstream from the patients location. The SAR crew pushed up the river and found the ground rescue crew about 300-400 feet below the clouds.
The crew lowered two SAR crewmembers via hoist to the patient. The SAR team then hoisted the patient aboard the SAR helicopter and transported him to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
At about 4:10 a.m. Wednesday the SAR team launched to pick up a 79-year-old male from Friday Harbor Airport. After a short flight, the SAR team landed and performed a 30-minute transfer of the patient onto the helicopter. By 5:15 a.m., they landed at St. Joseph Hospital in Bellingham where they transferred the patient to higher care.
Naval Air Station Whidbey Island SAR has conducted 51 total missions throughout Washington State this year, including 37 rescues, four searches and ten 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.
