Naval Air Station Whidbey Island makes 3 daring rescues over weekend

Naval Air Station Whidbey Island Search and Rescue saved three people over the weekend.

The rescues were in North Central Washington, said NAS Whidbey Island SAR in a news release on Tuesday.

The first rescue mission happened Sunday afternoon. Crews had to navigate through patches of wildfire smoke to get to a 75-year-old man who suffered a head injury. The man was hiking near Upper Eagle Lake in the Okanogan Mountain range at an elevation of around 7,600′ above mean sea level (MSL).

Once crews reached the east side of Glacier Mountain they could see better and they spotted the man waving a space blanket.

Around 4:45 p.m., members of the crew rappeled down, and around 20 minutes later they were able to hoist their crew and the injured man up. He was taken to Harborview Medical Center.

Sunday night, the search and rescue team got an alert that a 34-year-old woman got sick at Holman Pass on the east side of Ross Lake at an altitude of around 5,200′ MSL.

Again, the crew had to navigate through wildfire smoke. Once in the area, they found the woman in a low heavily forested saddle between two ridgelines.

At 11:45 p.m. crew members rappeled down. Once on the ground, they assessed the woman and prepared her to be hoisted up to the helicopter.

The crew delivered her to St. Josephs Hospital just after 1 a.m.

On Monday, the search and rescue team got a report that a 19-year-old woman broke her ankle on the Ptarmigan Ridge Trail at 6,000′ MSL, two miles north of Mt. Baker.

Crews got the number for a group of hikers with the woman. The crew called them and asked them to turn on any lights they had once they could hear the helicopter. When the crew got there around 6 p.m., they immediately saw flashing lights from the hikers.

The crew pulled the woman to the helicopter and took her to St. Josephs.

NAS Whidbey Island SAR said they have done 32 missions this year, including one MEDEVAC, four searches, and 27 rescues.