A Mainland visitor was lifted by a helicopter rescue crew Wednesday out of a valley along the Wailua River after suffering a leg injury while hiking. According to Kauai Fire Department Battalion Chief Bob Kaden, the man was injured while
A Mainland visitor was lifted by a helicopter rescue crew Wednesday out of a valley along the Wailua River after suffering a leg injury while hiking.
According to Kauai Fire Department Battalion Chief Bob Kaden, the man was injured while on the hiking portion of a kayak-hike tour up the river.
Because of the inaccessible area where the accident took place, Inter-Island Helicopters was called in to extract the victim in a rescue basket on a long line attached to the helicopter.
The call to KPD came in around 12:20 p.m. Wednesday, and the Kapa’a fire station squad responded by 12:28 p.m., and ascertained that this was a job for the rescue crew.
The rescue crew had to drop what it was doing, which was teaching cardiopulmonary resuscitation to sophomores at Kauai High School, and set up a landing area at Wailua Homesteads Park.
From there, at least two trips were taken to the incident scene, the first to assess the terrain and best extraction method, and the second after installing long-line and rescue basket apparatus for the extraction, Kaden explained.
The Inter-Island Huey helicopter acquired for rescues requiring a powerful craft lowered fire rescue specialist Tim Stokesbary and acting fire rescue specialist Roy Constantino down to the victim.
Acting rescue Capt. Edson Martin was directing operations from the helicopter.
Constantino and Stokesbary had to assess the victim’s condition and injuries, “package” him for transport, then move him to an area where the helicopter could safely lift him.
The victim was identified by Kaden as Jim Nye, 34, a visitor from Winston, Ore.
During these extractions, one of the rescue specialists is lifted up, hanging onto the rescue basket, with the victim, Kaden said.
The decision to use the helicopter saved precious hours, because the alternative was to launch a rescue boat at the mouth of the river, and hike to reach and retrieve the victim, which would have tied up the rescue crew for most of the afternoon, Kaden added.
The victim was taken via American Medical Response ambulance to Wilcox Memorial Hospital, but his condition was unavailable as of press time last night.
