Severely Dehydrated Person
May 13, 2023
North Palm Desert
2023-017
Written by: Richard Yocum
On Saturday, 5/13/2023, at the Hemet-Ryan airbase about a dozen RMRU members were wrapping up a helicopter training with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Aviation Unit on a hot afternoon of >90 degrees when the call came in at about 1525 hours to respond to a person’s call for help in an area north of Palm Desert.
Because the Rescue 9 helicopter crew was short by one member, I was asked to assist in the “catcher” position. The search location appeared to be in a wide-open and flat area near a residential neighborhood. As Rescue 9 was being refueled for the mission, a decision was made to delay take-off because other units were already going to the location, which was likely to be easily accessible on foot.
A brief time later we learned that Cal Fire had reached the location after a short walk and was managing a person who was found lying in the desert and severely dehydrated. We stood down.
RMRU Members Involved: (Richard Yocum)
Other Units Involved: (Riverside County Sheriff’s (CERT, Aviation, Rescue 9), Cal Fire)