Kentucky rescue crews work together amid 2 emergencies at Red River Gorge

SLADE, Ky. (FOX 56) — Rescue teams in Powell, Wolfe, and Lee counties responded to two emergency calls happening at the same time over a mile apart from one another on Saturday afternoon at the Red River Gorge.

The Wolfe County Search and Rescue Team (WCSART) wrote on Facebook that around 2:15 p.m. on Sept. 27, crew members got a 911 call for a man who had fallen at the base of Cloud Splitter. Within minutes, a second call came in about an unresponsive hiker in the Sheltowee Trace area.

Wolfe County crews contacted Powell County Search and Rescue as well as Lee County crews to help respond to the simultaneous emergencies, and hasty teams went out to help the two men in need.

“We discovered the unresponsive male hiker had been stung by ground hornets and was found by another group of hikers who made the 911 call,” officials with WCSART wrote.

Rescue Chief John May with WCSART said the man who’d been stung could have been subjected to life-threatening conditions due to reactions the body can have.

“You know, we were talking maybe anaphylactic shock and those kinds of things, which could be a life-threatening situation for that individual,” Chief May said.

Good Samaritans reportedly told rescue crews that the sting victim had been unresponsive for about 15 minutes when they found him. When crew members arrived, he was stable and headed back to the trailhead on his own with company from an EMT and other hikers, with the rest of the team moving back toward the base of Cloud Splitter.

Members of rescue teams from Lee and Powell Counties, as well as WCSART, found that the man who fell had fractured his lower leg. Officials said they used an “air splint” to keep the leg in place before taking him down a steep shortcut to a Menifee County ambulance team using a Stokes basket and a series of low-angle rope systems. He was then taken to Clark Regional Medical Center for treatment.

WCSART members thanked Powell and Lee County crew members for their teamwork and coordination, along with emergency personnel from Menifee County.

“It’s just a great team effort from a lot of different agencies yesterday,” Chief May said.

May told FOX 56 News that the fall season is probably the busiest when it comes to emergency calls in the Gorge.

We’re in the mid-40s rescues this year. We’ve been averaging 50 to 60. So we’d expect somewhere another 10 to 20, you know, the next few months,” he said.

Rescue crew members advised hikers to use technology like CalTopo, the Gaia app, or the SOS phone feature that can be lifesaving when there’s no cell reception.