Pryor rescue

Numerous first responders deployed to assist at ATV crash site in Pryors

It was all-hands-on-deck once again as numerous first responders from Carbon County, Montana, and Big Horn County, Wyoming, combined their efforts to assist a 15-year-old ATV crash victim from Powell, who had accidentally driven off a cliff near the ice caves in the Pryor Mountains on Sunday morning.

According to Big Horn County Sheriff Ken Blackburn, a call came in to dispatch from the Carbon County Sheriff’s Dept. requesting “mutual aid and assistance” in a search for a 15-year-old from Powell who had gone missing while driving an ATV in the Pryor Mountains near the Montana-Wyoming border.

“We were told he was missing and had possibly gone over the cliff near the ice caves,” explained Blackburn.

Blackburn said the boy was riding on a separate ATV behind his mother on the trail that connects with Crooked Creek Road. At some point, the mother realized her son was no longer behind her on the trail and doubled back to look for him. Several bystanders, who were also recreating in the area, helped with the search.

When they couldn’t find him on the road, they realized he may have driven off the cliff. After noticing slide impressions where he apparently went over the edge of the cliff, they communicated with the victim from above, though he was completely out of sight from the roadway because he was so far down below.

Blackburn said National Park Service ranger Catherine King was the first responder on the scene. King worked with bystanders in the area who had established communication with the victim, who was conscious but at the bottom of a very steep drop.

Blackburn said his deputies responded to the call along with several members of the Deaver/Frannie Fire Department and Big Horn County’s north and south end search and rescue squads, including specialized and highly skilled ropes rescue team members.

“We were able to get up there on the scene a little bit quicker than the Montana people,” said Blackburn. “Catherine was the first one on the scene, and she and some bystanders went down a ravine into the canyon. It was a very steep embankment, 150 to 200 feet down, with about a 40-foot sheer cliff. The victim was able to ride it part way down, until he rolled over and was ejected from the machine he was riding.”

When the Carbon County Sheriff’s deputies from Red Lodge and the Clark’s Fork Fire Dept. out of Bridger arrived, the first responders began coordinating efforts to bring the boy to safety where he received help from emergency medical staff who had arrived in a four-wheel drive ambulance from North Big Horn Hospital. A medical helicopter dispatched from St. Vincent Regional Hospital in Billings arrived but had to land about a mile and a half away from the victim due to the terrain.

Blackburn noted the first search and rescue teams arrived and set up an initial system that they used to repel down to the victim.

“It took about an hour and half to get everything set up to get him out of there,” said Blackburn. “It was very difficult to access. Fortunately, he landed in some brush and grass instead of on the rocks.”

Blackburn said the ropes team set up a system to help medical personnel get down to the victim.

“Everyone got in and out safely with the help of the ropes team,” said Blackburn. “The victim was taken by ambulance to the helicopter, which transported him to Billings for treatment of his injuries.”

 Blackburn said the victim was alert and awake, but he was obviously very injured.

Deaver-Frannie Fire Dept. Captain Christen Grant and four members of her team assisted with the rescue. She commented that the rescue effort was “a good show of mutual aid response.”

She said she was impressed with the ropes rescue team, who she described as running a “well-oiled machine.”

Grant said her team helped clear brush and tree limbs out of the way so the ropes team would have a clear path to conduct their mission.

“Everyone had their hands full, but it was awesome to see everyone in action,” she said. “It seemed like the ropes team had done this time and time again. They were quite impressive and made it look easy. All we did was pitch in and help them.”

Wes Mangus, captain of the North Big Horn County Search and Rescue team wasn’t on the scene, but he noted that about 23 members from the search and rescue teams on the north and south ends of the county were present, including members from both ends of the county trained in advanced ropes rescue techniques.

Sgt. John Croft of the Carbon County Sheriff’s Dept. said, “We worked well together, and we really appreciated the assistance from the first responders in Wyoming. Sharing a border and being able to share our resources like this goes a long way.”

Blackburn noted that first responders from Montana and Wyoming plan for this type of joint rescue effort.

“We’ve worked with them three or four times now in the last couple of weeks, and they’ve been fantastic every time,” said Blackburn, referring to the Montana first responders. “This time it was their case and their call for mutual aid, and we responded as best we could.”

Blackburn said it’s been an unusually busy summer for rescues.

“It usually ebbs and flows, but it seems like we’ve had a few more dynamic rescues than usual this summer,” he said. “I’ve been going up into those mountains since I was a kid and many times since then, and I’ve often thought to myself, ‘I hope we don’t ever have to rescue anyone out of this canyon, because it would be hard to get someone out of here.’

“Well, we can take that off our list now, because that’s exactly what we had to do on Sunday, and it was very complicated and very difficult. It was a big project. It took pretty much every first responder who was there, and they all worked together and did a great job.”