Washington County Search and Rescue report 5 incidents Sunday, including 1 death
May 24, 2020, 8:06 PM | Updated: 8:08 pm
FILE PHOTO: The city of St. George is pictured in May 2020. Washington County Search and Rescue Teams report five incidents in one day, resulting in one death. (Matt Gade, Deseret News)
(Matt Gade, Deseret News)
ST. GEORGE, Utah — The Washington County Search and Rescue (SAR) team reported five separate incidents Sunday before sundown — more than Darrell Cashin said he’s ever seen during his eight years as the sheriff’s office sergeant. Of those five calls, one mountain biker did not survive.
“This has been pretty much just go, go, go all day long,” Cashin said to St. George News. “I don’t know what’s going on out there. All I know is every time my phone rings and it’s dispatch, I know it’s not going to be good.”
Five calls come in Sunday
The morning started with a call around 10:45 a.m. about an injured hiker on the Red Cliffs Hiking Trail. The male hiker was about 15-20 minutes into his trek when he injured his ankle.
Luckily, Cashin said SAR teams — as well as Hurricane EMS — were able to get the hiker pretty quickly.
Less than five minutes later, the SAR team received a call about a female hiker on the Anasazi Valley Trail (Tempi’Po’Op) who reportedly dislocated or fractured her ankle, according to Cashin. Emergency personnel responded to the call and were able to get the hiker out.
Within the next hour, Washington County SAR were notified about a mountain biker near “Clavicle Hill” on the Bear Claw Poppy Trail.
“We didn’t know why he was down,” Cashin said.
By the time SAR arrived, responders were already performing CPR. The team was met with an Intermountain Life Flight helicopter, a Gold Cross ambulance and emergency responders from the St. George Fire Department at the scene.
However, the mountain biker — a 46-year-old male from Northern Utah — died on scene, Cashin said.
Immediately after, the SAR team received two more calls came in requesting help — which was during the time St. George News was reporting on the story.
One call was for a UTV rollover in Sand Hollow State Park. A male had either fractured his arm or separated his shoulder, Cashin said. However, he wasn’t sure of the details as it was still developing at the time of the report.
The fifth call of the day was for a one-year-old girl whose family is located in a remote wilderness location near Little Creek Mountain. The child was reported to be “extremely ill,” according to Cashin.
“The mother was having a hard time keeping her conscious,” he said.
Cashin says he’s thankful for Search and Rescue team
Despite the busiest day of his eight-year run, Cashin said he was thankful for his SAR team for being consistent throughout the calls.
“I keep on looking at all my search and rescue people and they keep coming knowing that they are not getting paid,” Cashin said. “They keep showing up.”
Other Sunday news:
Rollover crash leaves 1 dead, 1 injured south of Fort Duchesne
