Contact: Patty McQuillan
Date: November 3, 2008
Phone: (919) 733-5027 x232
NCHART, NCNG HELP RESCUE MORGANTON ROCK CLIMBER
MORGANTON – Sunday Nov. 2, a rock climber fell at Table Rock and was hanging from a rope for eight hours in an area called the Amphitheater. The climber had suffered serious injuries.
Jeff Cardwell, NC Emergency Management Area Coordinator, and Major Ken Anthony, Incident Commander of Burke County Emergency Services, determined it was too dangerous to perform a helicopter extraction because the climber was located on the mountain face. The victim would have to be pulled up 100 feet to a ledge to be rescued.
The rescue team on the ground worked for hours in complete darkness to haul the injured climber to the ledge where a National Guard Blackhawk helicopter could safely assist in the rescue. An air mission was required since the climber was seriously injured and overland extraction could take as much as 20 hours over unforgiving terrain during hours of darkness.
To pull the victim up the ledge, the Burke County Special Operations Team constructed a 5:1 mechanical advantage pick-off device with ropes and pullies. Two of the Burke County team members dropped down the mountain face on ropes to place the victim in a basket. Once they got the victim up to the ledge, the helicopter, flying with three NC Helicopter Aquatic Rescue Team (NCHART) members flew and hovered over the ledge and dropped another basket with a 250-foot cable on a hoist. Two of the HART members dropped from the helicopter via cable to the ledge to pack up and travel with the victim and the lead paramedic from Burke County Special Operations. One HART member stayed in the helicopter to direct the hoist operations.
The request to the NC National Guard (NCNG) and the NC Helicopter Aquatic Rescue Team (NCHART) was done by a communications system called VIPER.
"Keep in mind that throughout this operation, there was no cellphone coverage in the area of the accident," said Mike Sprayberry, Emergency Managment's deputy director, who was monitoring the event as it unfolded through his portable hand held at his kitchen table. Todd Brown, the Urban Search and Rescue manager, was also monitoring the event at his house in Johnston County, and the NCNG aviators were monitoring at their Salisbury location.
As soon as the mission was formally requested and subsequently approved by Chief Deputy Secretary Rudy Rudisill of the NC Dept. of Crime Control and Public Safety, Sprayberry was able to contact all the players with one transmission on the Incident Command channel to let them know of the events. Sprayberry said, "Everyone was in the loop and moving out with no delays."
Due to the force of the winds from the helicopter blades, the narrowness of the ledge (10 ft) and the height of their location (400 ft), the rescue team on the ledge not directly involved with transport of the victim and lead paramedic back up into the helicopter were lashed into the mountain face to ensure they would not be blown off of the ledge. The victim was brought into the helicopter first and then the lead paramedic. In standard operating fashion, they were lashed to a HART member during the hoist.
The National Guard's UH60 Blackhawk was flown by Major Kevin Wisniewski and Chief Warrant Officer Scott Monticelli. Crew Chief Staff Sergeant Robin McDaniel and Sergeant Todd Bowers deployed rescuers by hoist to join the rescue crew on the ledge. The team then prepared the climber for airlift and hoisted the climber to the helicopter with the assistance of a rescuer.
The climber, who had broken bones and other serious injuries, was transported to the Morganton-Lenoir Airport where a Carolinas Medical Center helicopter was waiting, and he was flown to a Charlotte hospital.
"I cannot overstress the success of VIPER in this scenario," Sprayberry said. "It was the only means of communications and allowed strong and safe management of the incident. The Technisonic Radio in the UH-60 Blackhawk, along with the wireless intercom system (all interconnected with VIPER) allowed all of the air crew to speak with each other as well as the team members on the ground. An absolute necessity for safe and efficient operations.
"This equipment and the training skills demonstrated in this incident by the NCNG, the NC-HART, the NCEM, Burke County Special Ops, etc. have been made possible through the prudent and judicious use of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Program Grant funding."
NCHART is a highly specialized team consisting of NC National Guard assets matched with highly-trained local emergency services personnel that form a mission-ready package for helicopter-based rescues using the UH-60 Blackhawk. Missions are coordinated through the NC Emergency Management Division. The Blackhawks are outfitted with specialized rescue equipment and have radios that provide communications to emergency services ground personnel on any State Emergency Communications channel.