Girl Rescued near Tangerine Falls
[VIDEO]: Helicopter Hoists Injured Hiker to Safety
A hurt 9-year-old girl was plucked by helicopter from the West Fork trail of Cold Springs Canyon on Thursday after she slipped and fell 20 feet down a rock face. She suffered an open fracture to her upper arm, and when paramedics found her she was in shock and extreme pain.
The girl was hiking with her mother at around 5 p.m. when she fell, said Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Sgt. Mark Williams. The mother immediately called 9-1-1 for help, and rescue personnel were dispatched. After hiking approximately 30 minutes up the canyon, Montecito Fire Paramedics reached the injured girl and requested, based on the remote and difficult terrain and the nature of the injury, a helicopter from the Santa Barbara County Air Support Unit.
Rescuers carried the girl down over large boulders to a small clearing below Tangerine Falls where she was placed in a harness and hoisted into the chopper. She was flown to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital Center for treatment and is currently recovering.
