Tennessee Guardsmen rescue hiker in Hamilton County

LOUISVILLE, Tenn. - On Saturday evening, March 21, a flight crew with the Tennessee Army National Guard's 1-230th Assault Helicopter Battalion rescued a hiker suffering from severe lower extremity injuries following a rockslide near Signal Mountain in Chattanooga.

Shortly after 6:45 p.m., Eastern time, the Tennessee National Guard and the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency were notified of the injured hiker needing immediate medical assistance and rapid transport to a nearby hospital. The hiker was injured along Suck Creek Trail in a remote area near the eastern edge of Prentice Cooper State Forrest.  

Once TEMA was notified of the possible mission, Tennessee National Guardsmen assigned to Task Force Smokey assembled a flight crew and readied a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter for flight. Once the mission was approved, the aircraft departed Joint Base McGhee-Tyson at approximately 7:45 p.m., flying directly to the rescue site. While enroute, the flight crew was notified that the area the hiker was in was remote, rugged, and had no clearings to safely hoist the patient from. So, the Blackhawk diverted and landed at Signal School of Physical Education's football field while rescue personnel with the Chattanooga Fire Department transported the patient to a safer hoisting and rescue area.

A little after 9:10 p.m., the rescue personnel radioed the fight crew that the patient had been moved to a safer site near Suck Creek Trail. The Blackhawk flew to the new pick-up area and at approximately 9:15 p.m., the Tennessee Army National Guard flight crew consisting of two pilots, Chief Warrant Officer 4 Brian Spotts and Chief Warrant Officer 3 Michael Brasfield, the crew chief, Sgt. Christopher Burke, and the flight paramedic, Sgt. 1st Class Giovanni DeZuani, began rescue operations.

Once the injured hiker and rescue crew were located, the aircraft crew chief, Burke, performed a nighttime hoist over 160 feet from the ground, lowering DeZuani, the fight paramedic, to the injured hiker and rescue crew. Once DeZuani was safely on the ground, he performed a medical assessment of the injured hiker and readied the patient to be hoisted into the aircraft. After a few minutes of rendering aid, the hiker and flight medic were then hoisted into the Blackhawk helicopter hovering overhead. When everyone was safely on board, the aircraft flew to Erlanger Baroness Hospital in downtown Chattanooga while first aid continued throughout the flight.

At approximately 9:55 p.m., the aircraft landed at Chattanooga's Lincoln Park, next to Erlanger Baroness Hospital, where the patient was transferred to an awaiting ambulance and taken to the hospital emergency room. Lincoln Park was used as a landing site because the Blackhawk is too large to land on the hospital's rooftop helipad Once the patient was safely in the care of medical professionals, the aircraft returned to Louisville and landed just before 11:25 p.m.