McKean County, PA - Almost three years to the day after Eldred Borough FD, Station - 4, McKean County, PA, received their ‘All Terrain Res-Q’ off-road patient transport trailer, Eldred’s Rescue 45 was dispatched to assist Port Allegany Fire Department and a Port Area Ambulance at the scene of a snowmobile accident. Another mutual aid call, Eldred Boro FD personnel hitched their 18-Ft. off-road rescue hauler to ‘Utility 44' and responded to an area of snowmobile trails at the end of Two Mile Road, 13 miles away in Annin Township, outside Port Allegany. .
The 911 caller, a witness to the accident, did not know their exact location on the trails. So, the McKean County 911 Dispatch Center traced the cell phone signal using Enhanced 911 to determine the location of the scene was a 1/2 mile off the nearest paved road. Unfortunately, icy road conditions prevented first responders from reaching the closest access to the accident scene. So, staging was established at the bottom of a hill 1-1/2 miles away. Upon arrival of Port Allegany FD Rescue 38, their personnel and medical equipment was transported to the accident scene by two private citizens on snowmobiles. As the patient was being stabilized by Port Allegany rescuers, Eldred Boro FD’s Rescue 45 crew were confronted with their own emergency. Still 2 miles from the staging area, Utility 44’s turbo blew and the F-550 Brush Truck towing the off-road rescue equipment hauler came to a halt.
However, quick thinking Rescue 45 members dropped the hauler’s ramp and finished the remainder of their emergency response on board their Arctic Cat 650 Prowler with an All Terrain Res-Q trailer in tow. Further complicating the response was an air temperature of just 7 degrees combined with traveling at close to highway speed, without the benefit of a windshield on the UTV. Upon their arrival at the staging area Rescue 45 was directed to the trail. Access to the snowmobile trail required climbing a very icy hill, and crossing a 3-Ft. high snow barrier. Once on the trail, Rescue 45 encountered several humps and bumps en route to the accident scene and Rescue 38’s patient.
Shortly after Eldred Boro’s Rescue 45 reached Port Allegany FD’s Rescue 38 personnel on scene, the patient was loaded onto the All Terrain Res-Q trailer and carefully transported almost 2 miles back to the staging area. At staging, the patient was provided ALS care and transferred to a Port Area Ambulance and Medic 16 for transport to the LZ where STAT-9, a medical helicopter was standing by. Once the MedEvac helicopter was airborne all Port Allegany FD, Port Area Ambulance and Eldred Boro FD units returned to service.
Without proper training, equipment, cooperation and pre-planing for off-road missions like this, the victim may not have made it off this remote snowmobile trail alive. The combined efforts of McKean County 911 Dispatch Center, Port Allegany Fire Department, Port Area Ambulance, Eldred Boro Fire Department, the crew of Stat - 9 MedEvac and ‘All Terrain Res-Q Trailers’ made it happen!
For more information about ‘All Terrain Res-Q Trailers’ visit http://www.OffRoadRescue.com.