Calif. Sheriff`s Helicopter Aids in Lighthouse Rescue

Jan. 25--A woman injured in a fall was rescued by helicopter Saturday from the lighthouse at the Point Reyes National Seashore.

The crew of Henry 1, the Sonoma County sheriff's helicopter, placed the injured woman in a stretcher and flew her along with two rescuers by a 100-foot long line from the lighthouse to a waiting ambulance.

The chopper's three-person crew arrived at the lighthouse shortly before 5 p.m. Emergency personnel on the ground alerted them that the woman was unable to walk because of injuries suffered in a fall. They sought the helicopter's assistance because of the difficulty of moving the woman approximately 650 yards along a narrow stairway that climbs roughly 300 feet in elevation from the lighthouse to the parked ambulance.

The helicopter landed on a road above the lighthouse, and two crew members attached a long line to the chopper and themselves. The pilot lifted off, flying a paramedic and sergeant to the lighthouse. The woman was placed in a rescue stretcher, and the pilot flew both rescuers and the woman on the long line up to the road where a Marin County Fire ambulance was waiting to transport her for treatment.

No details were available on the women's identity nor the extent of her injuries.

Copyright 2015 - The Press Democrat, Santa Rosa, Calif.