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Honolulu Fire Department assists multiple hiking groups in Pearl City

Jason Genegabus

Rescue crews from the Honolulu Fire Department helped one injured hiker and another three lost hikers in two separate incidents on Sunday.

At 3:30 p.m. Sunday, 911 operators recieved a call for help from an injured hiker on the Manana Ridge Trail in Pearl City. Five HFD units with 16 personnel responded to the end of Komo Mai Dr. at 3:50 p.m. and proceeded to ascend about three quarters of a mile up the trail before making contact with a 53-year-old woman who had fallen while hiking with a group of 10 other people. The female hiker had twisted an ankle and sustained multiple abrasions, leaving her unable to make it back down the trail.

After providing first aid, HFD’s Air 2 helicopter transported the woman and three other hikers to a nearby landing zone, where Honolulu Emergency Services took over care and transported the woman to a hospital at 4:43 p.m. The other seven hikers did not require additional assistance and returned to the base of the trail on their own.

At 5:58 p.m. Sunday, firefighters responded to a 911 call for lost hikers on the Waimano Ridge Trail in Pearl City, sending five units with 16 personnel that arrived at 6:09 p.m. After tracking the caller’s geo-location coordinates, rescue specialists used HFD’s Air 1 helicopter to travel about two miles along the trail because dusk was approaching.

After making contact with three hikers on the trail at 6:27 p.m. and determining nobody was injured, each hiker was extracted individually by Air 1 to a loading zone on Waimano Home Rd. All of the hikers were accounted for at the landing zone by 6:59 p.m.

HFD reported no injuries to any of its responding personnel during either of the rescue operations.

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