You’ve heard us and everyone else talk about it – triple digit temps continue to batter the Basin with unrelenting heat during the day, with barely a reprieve at night. The National Weather Service, National Park Service, State and County officials are all warning visitors to desert areas that the intense heat can turn small problems into deadly situations pretty quickly – and three search and rescue operations over the holiday weekend show how fast things can go downhill in extreme termperatures.
Horse rider rescue at Black Rock
On Sunday morning at around 9:30, the Sheriff’s Aviation Division responded to Black Rock Campground in Yucca Valley to assist the Park Service with a search and rescue involving a horse and rider. According to the Sheriff’s logs, a woman was bucked off her horse while riding on the Warm Springs Trail. The woman said she had pain in her hip and was unable to walk. Deputies blocked off a section of Black Rock Canyon Road as a landing zone for the helicopter, which landed and transferred the injured rider to an ambulance for treatment at Hi-Desert Medical Center.
Lost off-roaders in Johnson Valley
A little later that day at Noon in Johnson Valley, deputies responded to a couple riding in a CAN AM off-road vehicle who reported that they were lost east of Melville Dry Lake. The Sheriff’s report says that the couple said that they were low on gas, food and water and they needed directions back to their campsite. Sheriff’s deputies advised aviation that they may be needed, however a deputy on the ground found the couple approximately 8 miles away from their campground. The couple was escorted back and they both denied medical attention.
Broken down in Wonder Valley
Then out in Wonder Valley, a man was reported to be stuck in the desert for three hours without water. At around 3PM deputies were contacted by the man’s girlfriend, who said their truck had overheated and stalled out. The woman reportedly walked 4 to 5 miles to get cell phone service, where she told deputies that her boyfriend had drank the last of his water 2 hours earlier. The California Highway Patrol’s aviation unit found the man right before 7PM, and he was transported to the Hi-Desert Medical Center for treatment.
When going anywhere in the desert – especially in a heatwave with record temperatures – tell others where you are going and bring more water than you think you need. Even if you don’t use all your water, you could run across someone who needs it. Our vehicles need H2O too, so make sure your radiator is topped off and you keep an eye on your temp gauge if your vehicle has been known to overheat.
Better yet – in this unprecedented early heatwave that has already claimed the lives of multiple people around the state – don’t travel deep into the desert. The desert is beautiful and its wide open spaces are unlike anywhere else on earth. However, if you are unprepared for even the smallest accident, the quiet and calm isolation that the open desert provides may also be the cause of your untimely death.
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