Barbara Lawlor
GILPIN COUNTY

    It was a busy weekend for Gilpin County emergency agencies who worked in mutual aid with the Alpine Rescue Team to save the lives of three men involved in a rollover accident on Friday and a boy who was injured in a fall in Golden Gate State Park on Monday.
    The Alpine Rescue Team is trained to respond to situations that demand difficult evacuations for patients involved in climbing or hiking injuries and vehicle accidents which involve precarious rescues.
    Covering Gilpin, Clear Creek and Jefferson Counties, the rescue agency started in 1959, a similar rescue team to Boulder County’s Rocky Mountain Rescue. Volunteers from all over the counties show up at an emergency rescue scene with their ropes and climbing safety equipment, prepared to hike miles to help an injured person.
    On Friday night, a vehicle coming down Mammoth Gulch Road, a steep, dirt road off the Tolland Road, outside of Rollinsville, lost control about 100 yards from the intersection and rolled five or six times down a 75 degree slope to come to rest on its wheels about 120 feet down the hill.
    Gilpin County Sheriff’s officers and ambulances, as well as Nederland and Timberline Fire Authority firefighters and Colorado State Patrol responded to the site of the crash, which was near a railroad crossing. Trains and road traffic were stopped while the rescue went on. Two of the patients who had been ejected from the vehicle had multiple injuries that required helicopter transportation and the third patient was transported to the hospital by ambulance.
    As it grew dark, one helicopter prepared to take off as the other helicopter prepared to land for the rescue.
    On Monday afternoon, the same agencies, including the Golden Gate State Park Rangers and Timberline Fire Authority firefighters responded to the report that a juvenile had fallen down a boulder/scree-covered slope and had a broken his arm and leg as well as sustaining head in juries.
    The boy was about three miles up a rocky hillside and the rescue teams had to lower him down an incline to the scree field where they could put him on a litter with a stopes wheel. The patient was stabilized and transported by vehicle to a nearby landing zone where he was transferred to a helicopter and flown to St. Anthony’s Hospital.
    There were over 25 rescue volunteers involved in the evacuation. The Parks Service took over the command of the rescue and Alpine Rescue Rik Ondrusek headed up the operations. Paula Bindrich was at the scene with her rescue dog if needed, but the people that been with the boy were able to direct rescue workers to the site.
    Fortunately, the successful multi-agency rescue was accomplished before the thunderstorm, that had been hovering to the west, broke loose with lightning and rain.
Barbara Lawlor
GILPIN COUNTY

    It was a busy weekend for Gilpin County emergency agencies who worked in mutual aid with the Alpine Rescue Team to save the lives of three men involved in a rollover accident on Friday and a boy who was injured in a fall in Golden Gate State Park on Monday.
    The Alpine Rescue Team is trained to respond to situations that demand difficult evacuations for patients involved in climbing or hiking injuries and vehicle accidents which involve precarious rescues.
    Covering Gilpin, Clear Creek and Jefferson Counties, the rescue agency started in 1959, a similar rescue team to Boulder County’s Rocky Mountain Rescue. Volunteers from all over the counties show up at an emergency rescue scene with their ropes and climbing safety equipment, prepared to hike miles to help an injured person.
    On Friday night, a vehicle coming down Mammoth Gulch Road, a steep, dirt road off the Tolland Road, outside of Rollinsville, lost control about 100 yards from the intersection and rolled five or six times down a 75 degree slope to come to rest on its wheels about 120 feet down the hill.
    Gilpin County Sheriff’s officers and ambulances, as well as Nederland and Timberline Fire Authority firefighters and Colorado State Patrol responded to the site of the crash, which was near a railroad crossing. Trains and road traffic were stopped while the rescue went on. Two of the patients who had been ejected from the vehicle had multiple injuries that required helicopter transportation and the third patient was transported to the hospital by ambulance.
    As it grew dark, one helicopter prepared to take off as the other helicopter prepared to land for the rescue.
    On Monday afternoon, the same agencies, including the Golden Gate State Park Rangers and Timberline Fire Authority firefighters responded to the report that a juvenile had fallen down a boulder/scree-covered slope and had a broken his arm and leg as well as sustaining head in juries.
    The boy was about three miles up a rocky hillside and the rescue teams had to lower him down an incline to the scree field where they could put him on a litter with a stopes wheel. The patient was stabilized and transported by vehicle to a nearby landing zone where he was transferred to a helicopter and flown to St. Anthony’s Hospital.
    There were over 25 rescue volunteers involved in the evacuation. The Parks Service took over the command of the rescue and Alpine Rescue Rik Ondrusek headed up the operations. Paula Bindrich was at the scene with her rescue dog if needed, but the people that been with the boy were able to direct rescue workers to the site.
    Fortunately, the successful multi-agency rescue was accomplished before the thunderstorm, that had been hovering to the west, broke loose with lightning and rain.