A hiker who fell 30 feet down a waterfall and into a pool in Butte County had to be harnessed to the end of a 150-foot rope and pulled out by a helicopter over the Memorial Day weekend, according to authorities.
The hiker, who was not identified by authorities, suffered serious injuries and could not be reach by ambulance in time, rescuers said.
The man was hiking with friends near Feather River Canyon and Camp Creek Falls — near the site of the 2018 Camp fire — when he tried to take a photo of the waterfall and slipped, according to authorities.
The hiker fell onto the granite rocks and over the edge of the waterfall, down a 30-foot drop into the pool below, according to Kevin Soukup, a spokesperson for Butte County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue.
The rescue team responded to the incident in Pulga and when they saw he had sustained serious injuries, decided to rely on a helicopter for the rescue.
The injured man, who was conscious at the time, was put into a harness and flown while attached to the helicopter with the 150-foot rope, Soukup said. The man was flown to a landing zone near Cresta Power House and transferred to Enloe FlightCare for further medical care. The entire helicopter trip took between 30 seconds and a minute.
“This is the riskiest type of rescue that you do,” Soukup said. “Just by nature, helicopters are dangerous. Anytime someone suffers a traumatic injury, you look at the risk and reward and getting them out as quickly as possible via the helicopter was the right decision to make.”
The road getting out of the area is about three miles and an ambulance wouldn’t have made it in time, Soukup said. Anytime there is a traumatic injury, if the journey is more than a 30-minute drive, you have to fly them there, he said.
The rescue was a joint operation with Cal Fire and Butte County Fire.