The Peru Gazette

Several of the Forest Ranger Actions for 12/24 – 12/30/18

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Forest Rangers respond to search and rescue incidents statewide.

Town of Keene
Essex County
Rescue: On Dec. 27 at 10:58 a.m., DEC’s Ray Brook Dispatch received a request for assistance for a 50-year-old male who sustained injuries from a nearly 45-foot fall while ice climbing the Pitchoff North Tendonitis Route. Companions lowered the subject to safety with belay ropes and requested an evacuation and medical assistance. Lt. Chris Kostoss and eight Forest Rangers were dispatched to the scene and began hiking in to the subject. The Rangers reached the subject and stabilized him in a full body splint. He was carried out to a waiting off-road vehicle and transferred to a waiting Lake Placid Ambulance. By 2 p.m., the fallen hiker was transported to Adirondack Medical Center in Saranac for treatment.

Town of Crawford
Orange County
Search: On Dec. 29 at 1:07 p.m., Crawford Police Department contacted DEC’s Central Dispatch to request Forest Ranger assistance in a search for a missing 79-year-old diabetic male with dementia. The subject has a history of walking off and was last seen the previous evening around midnight. Ten Forest Rangers and several local agencies began the search but ended the day without finding the subject. Search efforts resumed the following morning at daybreak, and at 1:30 p.m., the subject was located by a search crew in an abandoned house. He was transported to Orange Regional Medical Center by a local volunteer ambulance unit.

Town of Keene
Essex County
Rescue: On Dec. 30 at 9:34 a.m., DEC’s Ray Brook Dispatch received a direct call from a hiker on the Ridge Trail of Giant Mountain reporting that their hiking partner, a 38-year-old male, had slipped on the ice and fallen 30 feet down a cliff, sustaining back injuries. The subject was mobile and attempting to hike back to the trailhead. Ranger Robbi Mecus responded to the Ridge trailhead and began hiking in to locate the injured hiker. Rangers Scott Van Laer and Megan McCone were staged at the trailhead with rescue equipment to assist if needed. Ranger Mecus located the subject 1/4 mile above the Giant Washbowl. The hiker was in significant pain but cleared of spinal cord injuries and able to walk back to the trailhead under his own power, reaching the trailhead by 12:27 p.m. The hiker was transported by Keene Valley EMS to the hospital in Elizabeth for further care.

Town of Bolton
Warren County
Rescue: At 5:45 p.m. on Dec. 30, a call came in to Ray Brook Dispatch through Warren County 911 from a pair of lost hikers on Cat Mountain along the Lake George Land Conservancy Trails. The couple had found themselves off-trail with no headlamps. The pair’s cell phones had limited battery power, and with darkness setting in, they called for Forest Ranger assistance. Under the direction of Lt. Brian Dubay, Forest Rangers Evan Donegan and Nancy Ganswindt headed to the trailhead near Edgecomb Pond. Ranger Donegan linked up with the subjects at 7:50 p.m., and they were soon back at the trailhead with no injuries.