A mountain biker was rescued from a remote section of Annadel State Park in Sonoma County, California, after a multi-agency operation involving ground crews, a UTV, and a sheriff’s helicopter using a 200-foot longline insertion.
On Wednesday, June 10th, at 11:38am, REDCOM, Sonoma County’s fire and EMS dispatch center, requested the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office helicopter Henry-1 to respond to an injured cyclist on a remote trail.
California State Parks Rangers reached the rider first and began initial care while additional crews made their way to the scene. Ground teams from Santa Rosa Fire Department and Sonoma County Fire District accessed the park from different directions and pushed through difficult terrain to reach the patient. A Santa Rosa Fire UTV carried personnel partway in, but responders still had to hike several hundred yards along narrow single-track trails through dense tree cover to reach the victim.
Once on scene, Santa Rosa Fire personnel took over patient care, stabilized the rider, and began coordinating an extraction plan with the helicopter crew. Given the injuries and the location, hiking out was not an option, and the terrain kept the UTV from reaching the patient directly.
The Henry-1 crew lowered a Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office paramedic to the patient’s location using a 200-foot longline. After additional assessment and coordination with ground teams, the patient was hoisted out using the helicopter’s hot seat and flown to a nearby landing zone, where he was transferred to a Sonoma County Fire District ambulance for transport to a hospital.
Officials say the rescue reflects the coordination between California State Parks, REDCOM, Santa Rosa Fire Department, Sonoma County Fire District, and the Sheriff’s Office aviation unit, which combined to complete a difficult extraction from one of Annadel’s harder-to-reach areas.
