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November 20, 2008
City Council Honors Raleigh Fire Fighters That Rescue Lost Hikers
Mayor Charles Meeker and the Raleigh City Council recently honored Raleigh Fire Department officials that participated in a rescue mission while on a training exercise in Burke County in November.
Mayor Meeker issued a commendation for the fire officials at the Dec. 2 council meeting. Many of the crew that were involved in the rescue are shown below.
Members of North Carolina Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) Task Force 8 from the City of Raleigh Fire Department, Wake County Emergency Medical Services, Durham Fire Department, and Chapel Hill Fire Department were in Burke County the week of Nov. 18 participating in a training exercise when they were called on to assist in the search for two lost hikers.
At approximately 8:30 p.m. Monday evening, Nov. 18, Burke County authorities were alerted that two hikers were lost in the Linville Gorge. Burke County Search and Rescue (SAR) and other local fire departments conducted a search through the night in the rugged terrain as temperatures dipped below 24 degrees with gusty winds. As over two inches of snow covered the ground Burke County and North Carolina Emergency Management asked the members of Task Force 8 to assist in the search and rescue efforts Tuesday morning.
While conducting a ground search in the Upper Falls area, Captain Mike Hayes, and Senior Firefighter Jason Ceisner of the Raleigh Fire Department, along with two members of the Burke County SAR team located the hikers at approximately 10:26 a.m. Two other Raleigh firefighters, Lt. Joe Massey, and Senior Firefighter Stephen Holloman, along with Patrick Collins Wake County Emergency Medical Services met with the team and provided assistance to the hikers while awaiting transportation. Four other Take Force 8 team members were in helicopters about to be inserted into the search area. They are Travis Vickerson, Jeff Roberts, Jake Jackowski and Bryan Kilmer.
Task Force 8 was in the area with other personnel from the North Carolina Emergency Management's Helicopter-Aquatic Rescue Team (NCHART) for helicopter based rescue training. NCHART trains quarterly with the North Carolina Army National Guard's UH-60 Blackhawk crews from Salisbury, N.C. and has performed several rescues in Burke County this year.
According to Captain Hayes, "After the rescue, we went right back to training."
NCTF 8 is one of 11 regionally located, all-hazard search and rescue task forces in North Carolina.
The 210-member team is made up of fire personnel from the City of Raleigh, Town of Cary, Town of Chapel Hill, the City of Durham, Wake County EMS and Atlas Engineering. The task force is a mutli-hazard team that is capable of handling technical rescue operations that involve high-angle, swift water, flood water, trench, structural collapse, confined space and land search.
Prepared by:
Chris Riley
Senior Public Affairs Specialist
Public Affairs Department
For More Information Contact:
Mike Hayes
Captain
Fire Department
310 W. Martin Street
Raleigh, NC 27601
919-420-2315
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