CUSTER, S.D. – On Sunday, Custer County Search and Rescue reported that they responded to a call on Saturday, October 15 to assist Custer Ambulance Service. The call came at 3:48 p.m. reporting that a hiker had injured her hip after she lost her footing and fell on Little Devil’s Tower Trail.
Two Search and Rescue members who had taken ATVs to Trail 4 joined ambulance personnel and found the patient above the junction of the Cathedral Spires Trail, roughly 1.5 miles from the trailhead. The patient was then wheeled down the trail using Search and Rescue’s new hand-powered wheeled litter.
This was the first usage of the litter to assist in an operation. Search and Rescue says that the litter’s center of gravity makes it more stable to transport patients.
The patient was loaded onto Search and Rescue’s Yamaha UTV to be transported to the ambulance at the trailhead. Search and Rescue says that the new Yamaha vehicles have “new technologies that smooth the ride to a much greater degree,” than their previous equipment.
The patient’s condition has not yet been disclosed.
