Four-Year-Old Airlifted From Hiking Trail After Venomous Snakebite
On 5/19/21 at 4:33 PM EDT
A Palm Springs, California–area volunteer rescue team was sent on an urgent mission on Saturday: A 4-year-old had been bitten by a rattlesnake on a nearby trail and required immediate medical assistance.
According to NBC Palm Springs, the Palm Springs Mounted Police Search and Rescue team happened to be conducting training with a California Highway Patrol Helicopter at the time of the incident. They were reportedly about to take a lunch break when the message came in over the radio.
"We knew that the location was about a 30- to 45-minute hike to get to them," said team leader Doug Stevens. He added, "We had the helicopter all morning, so we went right in our mode of rescue and we flew in and were there in five minutes," "We had a landing zone already set up so we were able to fly in, extricate him" and "get him to the landing zone."