On Thursday, March 18th, members of the Bedford Fire Department participated in a drill dealing with Wilderness Search and Rescue. Firefighters and EMTs responded to Westmoreland Sanctuary where a hypothetical hiker had called 911 and said he had broken his leg, injured his head and was stuck on the hiking trails for hours. Two strike teams or search teams were sent two different paths to the hikers last known location. It took the strike teams about 20 minutes to make contact with the downed hiker and begin initial assessments and call in more resources. A second crew was called in to assist the first team in a rope rescue operation as the hiker was stuck in a cliff area. A rope system was set up above the hiker's location while EMTs packed the patient and dealt with any immediate wounds. When both teams were ready the patient was lowered using the rope system to ground level where another team of firefighters was ready to assist in getting the patient into a stokes basket for transport back to the staging area where an ambulance was waiting and ready.
The drill was very successful as the patient was safely transported to the ambulance, and all members returned to the firehouse for debriefing.
