Injured 16-year-old backpacker airlifted

Linn County Sheriff Michelle Duncan reports that on Sunday, September 1st, dispatch received a report of an injured backpacker at Duffy Lake.

The patient was a 16-year-old male from Portland who sustained a broken leg. The patient’s mother had sent a nearby backpacker to hike out and call 911. The good Samaritan made it to Maxwell Butte Sno-Park and contacted Linn County Dispatch at 4 p.m.

Duncan said the Linn County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue (SAR) immediately began to mobilize a ground team. The Search and Rescue team worked with the Oregon Office of Emergency Management to coordinate support from the National Guard for a helicopter.

The National Guard accepted the mission, but due to thunderstorms near Duffy Lake, they had to wait an hour for the weather to clear. In the meantime, the Linn County Sheriff’s Office sent a hasty team of ground SAR members, medically trained SAR EMTs, and a SAR paramedic. They arrived at the trail to Duffy Lake and began their hike to the patient at 5:55 p.m.

Additional SAR members arrived and hiked in at 6:30, contacting the patient and preparing him for aerial transport. The National Guard successfully operated a hoist rescue and, at 7:52, transported the patient to St. Charles Hospital in Bend.

All SAR members returned to the Duffy Lake Trailhead at midnight on Monday, September 2.

Sheriff Duncan would like to thank the SAR volunteers and the National Guard for their support. “The Linn County Sheriff’s Office SAR,” he noted, “primarily comprises volunteers, and these rescues are possible with their support.”