Teamwork between emergency responders in Cook and Lake counties was called for on Monday, July 19 after Lake County Law Enforcement received a report of a 15-yearold male who had fallen on the Superior Hiking Trail and suffered a head injury.
Lake County contacted Cook County Law Enforcement at 12:50 p.m. informing Cook County that the Finland Rescue Squad would need assistance to retrieve the boy who had fainted a few times after the fall. He was reported to be about a half mile south of the Crystal Creek campsite, approximately two miles north of the Caribou River. Lake County had called an emergency medical helicopter and asked the Schroeder Fire Department to set up a landing zone at Satellite’s Café in Schroeder.
Members of the Schroeder Fire Department and Tofte Rescue Squad responded to set up the landing zone at 1:26 p.m., but were called off at 1:36 p.m. Lake County instead asked if the rescue squad could assist with getting the patient off the trail.
Tofte Rescue Squad Director Louise Trachta and firefighter Sam Crowley headed to Caribou Creek where they were met by rangers from Tettegouche State Park. The Tettegouche rangers drove them from the Caribou Creek landing off Highway 61 up an old logging road, about 1/8 of a mile in before they had to hike in the rest of the way. The Cook County rescuers and members of Lake County rescue met the party on the hiking trail, as the injured youth’s counselor had started carrying him out.
Rescuers first used a wheeled stretcher, and then were able to use a power line rightof way to get an all-terrain vehicle in with a specially designed patient-carrying pod that attaches to the ATV. Contacted after the incident, Trachta explained that the pod is a bed in an enclosed box, large enough for an emergency provider to ride along with the patient. Thepod also protects the patient and responder from sticks and branches on the trail. Trachta said the young man was as comfortable as possible.
Trachta said joint training with other departments helps in situations such as this. She said the rescue went quite well, noting that responders never know what they are going to find until they get out on the trail. “Every rescue is unique and different,” she said. She added praise for those who participated in the rescue and for the emergency responders who stood by in Tofte and Schroeder, in case there was another incident.
Schroeder firefighters were back at the hall at 2:02 p.m. and rescue squad members were clear at 3:25 p.m.
There is no information available on the injured hiker.
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