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Visitors add to the Fourth of July hiking, ocean rescues

First responders were kept busy with rescues Sunday as locals and visitors took to the trails and the ocean to celebrate the Fourth of July.

Just after 4 p.m. Sunday, Honolulu Ocean Safety responded to a 23-year-old who jumped from the Waimea Bay rock and was found unresponsive in the water.

Honolulu Emergency Services Department spokeswoman Shayne Enright said onshore lifeguards performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation and shocked the patient.

“He regained consciousness and was awake and talking,” she said.

Afterward, Honolulu Emergency Medical Serv­ices provided “advanced life-support treatment.”

The patient was transported in serious condition to an emergency room.

Several hours before, the Honolulu Fire Department conducted two simultaneous rescue operations on the Windward side.

HFD received the first 911 call at 2:14 p.m. near the Pali Golf Course, where an unaccompanied adult male hiker requested assistance after he fell nearly 30 feet off the Likeke Trail.

The hiker was found within 45 minutes by the 12 HFD personnel who responded. The man wasn’t seriously injured, though it took HFD some time to assist him back to the trailhead as he was found in a precarious position.

As many as 16 HFD personnel responded to a call, which came in at about 3:07 p.m., to rescue a 17-year-old visitor from California who had gotten injured on the Maunawili Falls Trail. The teenager, who had a lower leg injury, had to be airlifted off the trail to a landing zone at Maunawili Valley Neighborhood Park. She was placed into the care of EMS, which transported her to an emergency room.

HFD also airlifted a teenage hiker and her mother from the Diamond Head Crater trail after receiving a distress call at about 1:19 p.m. Approximately 16 personnel responded. The first unit, which arrived within seven minutes of the call, ascended the trail on foot to find the hiker, a 19-year-old female visitor from Missouri who was reportedly ill.

HFD personnel found the teen on the trail at 1:36 p.m. While treating the teen, HFD personnel discovered that her mother also was unable to continue down the trial and provided assistance. Both of the hikers were airlifted to a landing zone near the parking lot inside Diamond Head Crater, where they were placed in the care of EMS and taken to an emergency room.

A 34-year-old man was treated by Honolulu Emergency Medical Services after he and three other swimmers got into trouble Sunday in waters near the popular surf spot China Walls.

The City and County of Honolulu’s Emergency Services Department said EMS responded along with lifeguards from Honolulu Ocean Safety at 12:27 p.m. after receiving a report of four swimmers in distress.

As Ocean Safety and EMS made their way to the scene, a good Samaritan on a personal watercraft arrived to assist all four men and transported them to a rocky section of nearby coastline.

Lifeguards arrived, jumped into the ocean and helped the men to dry land, where EMS evaluated the 34-year-old, who refused further medical treatment. The other three swimmers were uninjured.

According to Ocean Safety, a rising south swell produced waves in the 3- to 4-foot range this morning, which made it difficult for the men to return to shore.

Honolulu Emergency Medical Services said two in the group were visitors to Hawaii, while the swimmer treated by EMS and one other were members of the military.

HFD offers the following hiking safety tips:

>>Always let others know where you plan to hike and what time you expect to return.

>>If you call 911 to be rescued in the mountains, please stay in the same area so the rescuers can find you based on your last known geo-location coordinates.

>>Know your physical abilities and limitations and select trails that can be enjoyed safely.

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