McKinleyville, Calif. – At 6:48 p.m. on Tuesday, U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Humboldt Bay received a report that a mountain biker had been injured while riding with several friends on a trail between Fickle Hill Road and Jacoby Creek, east of Arcata, Calif.
A team from California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection CalFire arrived at the scene and assessed the injury. After stabilizing the injury to the biker’s right leg, CalFire determined that a helicopter evacuation would be preferable to hiking the injured man out of the forest.
The Coast Guard launched an HH-65C helicopter from Air Station Humboldt Bay at 8:10 p.m. and the aircraft arrived on scene fifteen minutes later. Once established in a hover over the victim, the helicopter lowered its rescue basket to the ground. The CalFire team placed the biker into the basket and the victim was hoisted up to the aircraft.
The helicopter then transported the man to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Eureka before returning to Arcata Airport in McKinleyville.
The condition of the man is unknown.
