The Haines Volunteer Fire Department treated and evacuated a man from a rocky Lutak beach Sunday after he badly injured his right leg, which required a tourniquet to stop the bleeding.
Fire chief Al Giddings said the man was walking along the beach and injured himself after he jumped and got his foot caught between rocks. “He had lacerations,” Giddings said. “There was no compound fracture but there was a definite deformation of his right ankle.”
The man called 911 from his cell phone, but finding him was difficult. Responders located him below the cliff at about 1.5 Mile Lutak Road. “It was very difficult to find him at first,” Giddings said. “The only way we did find him was one of our firefighters was walking along and could hear him screaming.”
Ambulance crewmembers descended the cliff and treated the man on the beach. Giddings said responders applied a tourniquet to stop heavy bleeding. The steep cliff prevented responders from carrying the man to the road, and they called the harbor to send a skiff. Rescuers transported the man by skiff to the harbor where an ambulance later took him to the SEARHC clinic.
Borough harbor employee Mark Allen drove the skiff. He said a passing ferry created rough waves as the tide was going out, and they had to wait to evacuate the man until the wake dissipated. “There was a lot of danger involved,” Allen said. “We made it back to town in about eight minutes.”
Guardian Flight later transported the man to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, HVFD volunteer Dwight Downer said.
Multiple agencies including Alaska Mountain Guides, Haines Police, Alaska Department of Transportation, citizens and borough staff also responded to the rescue. “It was a tremendous volunteer effort and really brought out the best in the Haines Volunteer Fire Department,” Giddings said