On July 5, 2024, an US Army aeromedical unit rescued an adult civilian after he fell from a Yukon River cabin roof in a completely remote location, far away from any road.
The army has announced that the aeromedical evacuation unit, known as Arctic Dustoff, received an emergency call at 6:05 local time and took off from Ladd Field to Fort Wainwright at 7:30 local time. Ladd Field is a part of Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks, Alaska, located within the same military unit.
Upon arriving in the general vicinity of the patient’s location, the crew noticed the patient’s friends had established a landing zone and had a boat prepared approximately 600 yards away from the cabin.
The flight paramedics were then taken by boat to the cabin, where they assessed and provided medical care to the patient. After evaluation, the medics stabilized the patient for further transportation back to the hospital and returned to the helicopter, which was waiting nearby.
“I am proud of the crew for adapting to the changes of the mission. No one on the crew was expecting to land on the riverbank and take a boat upstream to a remote cabin to treat the patient. The flight paramedics and crew handled the situation with ease and professionalism,” Operation Dustoff Operations Officer, Capt. Laura Penley commented in a press release.
By the time the crew returned to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, stormy weather conditions had cleared, but flights were temporarily restricted in the hospital area due to Grapefruit Complex wildfires along the flight route. Hospital staff eventually took the patient in at around 10:35 local time.
The crew for this mission included the pilot in command, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Everett Fowler, plus pilot Capt. Seth Koester, Crew Chief Sgt. Andrew Scherer, and flight paramedics Sgt. Hamilton Erickson and Sgt. 1st Class Benjamin Erny.
The unit at Fort Wainwright in central Alaska provides aeromedical evacuation support every day of the week. They also collaborate with the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center and local emergency services for rescue missions in wilderness areas of northern Alaska.
