Ladysmith Fire Rescue as well as Ladysmith Search and Rescue responded to a call August 15 at 2:00 pm after a woman injured her ankle on the Heart Lake trail.
“We went up the trail and brought her down the mountain on a stretcher,” fire chief Ray Delcourt said.
First responders spent around two hours to safely extract the woman from the trail. Due to the steep incline of the trail, it took emergency services personnel longer to come down while carrying a loaded stretcher.
Delcourt took the opportunity to remind the public that hikers should always communicate their hiking plans to someone who can help in the event of emergency. One of the biggest challenges first responders face in these rescue situations determining the location of hikers.
“Be aware of the trail markers and where they’re at. We need to know that information very quickly, because we have so many access routes to that trail,” Delcourt said. “In this scenario, they did have someone come down and meet us, so we knew exactly where she was at, and that way we can prompt our response in to getting her off the trail system.”
Hikers should make sure that they have their cell phones charged up before they hit the trail to effectively communicate in the event of an emergency. Delcourt also suggested hikers bring adequate water and food in case of emergency, and that hikers use proper footwear to prevent these kinds of injuries.