Over the Fourth of July weekend, Maryland State Police plucked people to safety in Talbot, Baltimore and Garrett counties.
The landscapes were different. Two involved people stranded in the waters of the Eastern Shore and Gunpowder Falls in central Maryland and the third involved a rescue in a state park in a region often referred to as “mountain Maryland.”
But in all three, those needing rescue were hoisted to safety in baskets by crews operating the aviation units that cover emergencies across the state.
Scott Curtin, director of flight operations for Maryland State Police, makes it sound easy: “You search, you find and you rescue.”
But the helicopter units are called out when speed is critical, but first responders’ access is limited.
On Friday, three 18-year-old women became stranded in the muddy shallows of Skipton Creek in Talbot County.
“They stayed on their jet ski, waited to be rescued, and Trooper 6 came in and got all three of them out,” said Curtin.
In that case, the young women were not injured. So they were instructed how to get into the basket that was lowered to them, secure themselves and hang on.
“Fire and rescue were on the shoreline, talking them through what they would have to do,” said Curtin.
It was a very different story on Saturday, when a wounded hiker was lifted to safety from Swallow Falls State Park.
“It was a wooded area up in Garrett County near the Swallow Falls, and the person had a head injury,” said Curtin.
In that case, the wounded person was hoisted up in a special device and then taken to a hospital.
Curtin said so far this year, the MSP aviation units have been called out on 1,500 missions.
“Nine hundred seventy-five of those are medevacs,” he said, referring to the medical evacuations, often seen in response to vehicle crashes. “We’ve done a total of 58 law enforcement missions, for search and rescue, we’ve done 94.”
Curtin added that there have been eight aerial hoist rescues.
The spring and summer typically generate more calls for the aviation units, said Curtin.
“One of the more common things that we see are going to be like motorcycle accidents, boating incidents,” he said. “We’re going to see a lot more people traveling, so we see a lot more injuries in motor vehicle accidents, so yeah, we’re — we get a lot of calls.”
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