By admin TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – The Pima County Sheriff’s Department is reminding hikers of the potentially deadly consequences of getting caught off-guard after a weekend that saw more hiker rescues than usual.
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The PCSD’s Search and Rescue team responded to 16 hiker rescues near the Seven Falls area over the weekend, with 14 of those occurring on Sunday alone.
Deputy Adam Schoonover with PCSD Search and Rescue said the incident started as a single rescue call.
“What ultimately was a single rescue turned into one person being airlifted and about 13 to 14 other people actually having to be in need of some type of assistance,” Schoonover said.
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On Sunday, PCSD’s Search and Rescue team received a call for a hiker needing assistance, which Schoonover said is not unusual for an extreme heat day in the summer.
“We do see it pretty much once a day,” Schoonover said.
Once the team began hiking the trail, they came across several other people in distress, all part of different groups.
“They just came across more and more people that were in distress, whether that be they were just out of water, or they needed to be cooled down and then hiked out,” Schoonover said.
One person needed to be airlifted out of Sabino Canyon.
The incident happened on our seventh consecutive extreme heat day.
Kevin Smith, chief medical officer at Tucson Medical Center, said consecutive heat could have played a part.
“It’s accumulation of multiple different days where you’re just – your body is not fully up to its normal speed,” Smith said.
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Smith said evening, overnight and early morning temperatures have not been getting as cool as usual.
“The longer it goes on, the less you think about it. So when it’s really hot one day, you may be drinking, you know, enough water, but then, you know, you sort of lose focus as it’s multiple different days. You slip. Maybe you didn’t drink as much water, maybe you’re spending more time outside,” Smith said.
Smith recommends drinking water even when not thirsty and limiting time outside on hot days.
Schoonover said he won’t discourage people from hiking, but said they need to be prepared and have knowledge of the trail.
“Start early, bring plenty of water, wear the proper clothing, make sure people know where you’re going, and have an expected return time,” Schoonover said.
Schoonover said that by this point in the summer, his team knows where heat distress calls will be made and at what times of day, so they position themselves near trailheads to be prepared when those calls come in.
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