New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers respond to search and rescue incidents throughout New York State. Working with other state agencies, local emergency response organizations and volunteer search and rescue groups, Forest Rangers locate and extract lost, injured or distressed people.
What follows is a report, prepared by DEC, of recent missions carried out by Forest Rangers.
Greene County
Town of Hunter
Wilderness Rescue: On January 10th at 2:30 pm, Central Dispatch received a call for help for a 67-year-old man who slipped on the ice at Kaaterskill Falls. Forest Rangers Allwine and Dawson responded and found the hiker from Massachusetts with a knee injury unable to walk. Rangers provided medical care and packaged the subject in a Sked to carry him up the ice-covered trail to a Ranger truck before driving the injured subject up to the Laurel House trailhead. The hiker declined further medical care. Resources were clear at 4:36 pm.
Warren County
Town of Bolton
Wilderness Recovery: On January 16th at 12:15 pm, Forest Rangers were called to assist with a 58-year-old hiker who collapsed at the Five Mile Mountain lean-to. His hiking partner and other hikers, including a member of Lower Adirondack Search and Rescue, began CPR on the subject. Ranger Kabrehl hiked in with members of the Bolton Police Department. Helicopter transport was also dispatched to the incident and at 2:10 pm, the subject was loaded into the helicopter and later pronounced deceased by EMS. Ranger Kabrehl hiked out with the rest of the hiking party.
BE PREPARED:
Be sure to properly prepare and plan before entering the backcountry. Visit DEC’s Hike Smart NY, Adirondack Backcountry Information, and Catskill Backcountry Information webpages for more information.
If a person needs a Forest Ranger, whether it’s for a search and rescue, to report a wildfire, or to report illegal activity on state lands and easements, they should call 833-NYS-RANGERS. If a person needs urgent assistance, they can call 911. To contact a Forest Ranger for information about a specific location, the DEC website has phone numbers for every Ranger listed by region.
Read past Forest Ranger search and rescue reports here.
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