Edhat Staff
Hurricane Deck Trail in February 2016 (Photo: Giann Franco)
A hiker with a heat-related illness was helicoptered out of the backcountry in the Los Padres National Forest on Sunday afternoon.
At 1:48 p.m., Santa Barbara County firefighters and a county helicopter responded to a medical emergency on the Hurricane Deck hiking trail in the Los Padres National Forest.
The helicopter was the first on scene and used GPS coordinates from the 911 call to locate the victim. Five hikers were discovered and one 36-year-old female was suffering from a heat-related illness due to extreme heat, said County Fire Public Information Officer Mike Eliason.
The female was hoisted and taken to Santa Barbara Airport and was then transported to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital by ground ambulance.
I don’t think that there’s anything that can done legally to prevent people who have no idea of how to operate in our front/back country. Every week there are one or more clueless folks who have to be rescued. Last week it was the backwards-cap wearing guy who went hiking at Seven Falls with his pit bull who lost his nerve and was too afraid to climb back down a few rocks and get his feet/diapers wet. Maybe it’s time to require mandatory training if you want to use our trails. Many, probably 85 percent, are ill prepared or cannot think straight once they get out of the comforts of their home. It’s sad that these people wander around without having a clue, and expect us to go save them.