Metro’s search and rescue scrambles during Memorial Day weekend
The Metropolitan Police Department’s search and rescue team conducted four missions during Memorial Day weekend, which holds steady with past years’ numbers, police said.
The first weekend rescue was Friday night, when a helicopter hoisted a 43-year-old hiker out of Valley of Fire State Park after he fell 30 feet while hiking.
Two missions were completed Saturday. One was for a 57-year-old Red Rock National Conservation Area hiker, Las Vegas police said. Officers and volunteers helped move the man, who was stranded on a rock face, to another area that was accessible to the helicopter. He and Friday’s hiker went to the hospital after being rescued.
The second Saturday rescue was for two people who fell down a hill in Lake Mead National Recreation Area. A 52-year-old-man and 15-year-old girl were stuck on a ledge 200 feet above the water, police said. They were rescued by helicopter.
Sunday brought the last rescue operation, on the Deer Creek trail at Mount Charleston after a 43-year-old woman fell and hurt her ankle. She was carried out in a stretcher-type board called a litter by search and rescue officers.
They were among the 42 to 45 missions by Metro’s search and rescue team this year. Search and rescue Lt. Jack Clements said the number of rescues this year is normal compared with past years. It’s normal for rescues to spike when the weather is nice, Clements said, for two reasons: More people visit Las Vegas, and people are more inclined to venture into recreational areas.
