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 and engage in policing on New York State Lands.
What follows is a report, prepared by DEC, of recent missions carried out by Forest Rangers.
Town of Richmond, Ontario County
Wildland Fire: On March 26 at 4:30 p.m., Forest Ranger Miller responded to a wildland fire on Route 20A. Ranger Miller worked with the Honeoye Fire Department to extinguish the one-acre fire and issued a ticket to the person responsible for setting the fire that endangered someone else’s property.
Town of Fishkill, Dutchess County
Wilderness Rescue: On March 27 at 4:11 p.m., Forest Ranger Cowart responded to a call for a hiker with a lower leg injury on South Beacon Mountain in Hudson Highlands State Park.
At 5:43 p.m., Ranger Cowart reached the 30-year-old from Long Island, provided a rescue blanket, and worked with New York State Park Police and the Beacon Volunteer Ambulance Corps to package the subject for a carryout. Rescue crews reached an ambulance at the bottom of the mountain at 7:21 p.m.
Town of Monroe, Orange County
Wildland Fire: On March 30 at 7 p.m., the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (State Parks) and the Monroe Fire Department requested Forest Ranger assistance with a wildfire that had spread from private to State land.
Rangers Parlier, Quinones, Rusher, and Schweider created a perimeter line around the 32-acre fire. At 12:30 a.m., Rangers had the fire under control. At 1:30 p.m., Rangers declared the fire in patrol status and determined the cause was a campfire that had grown out of control.
Town of Shandaken, Ulster County
Wilderness Rescue: On March 31 at 1:45 p.m., Ray Brook Dispatch received a call from a hiker reporting they had fallen down a rock face near the summit of Cornell Mountain and suffered an ankle injury.
Due to the severity of the injury and the location, Forest Rangers requested New York State Police (NYSP) Aviation assistance. Ranger Martin spoke to the 64-year-old hiker who indicated she had splinted her ankle and would walk toward Wittenberg Mountain.
NYSP Pilot Sergeant Plitsch flew Rangers Stratton and Horn to the area. Ranger Stratton inserted Ranger Horn to the hiker’s location so Ranger Horn could get the hiker secured for a hoist rescue. Following the successful hoist, four Rangers hiked up to Wittenberg from Woodland Valley Campground to assist the hiker’s husband to his vehicle. The subject’s son took her to the hospital. Resources were clear at 5:30 p.m.
You can watch video of the hoist rescue here.
Read past Forest Ranger search and rescue reports here.
Photo: Ranger Parlier at the wildland fire in Monroe (provided by DEC).
