WARWICK – The Orange County 911 center is credited with assisting in the location of two hikers, one of whom was injured, while they hiked on the Appalachian Trial on the New York-New Jersey border Saturday evening.
One of them suffered a possible broken ankle when he lost his footing while crossing a stream.
The two had entered the trail in Harriman State Park where they arrived by bus from New Jersey earlier in the day. They hiked with a large group for some 16 miles toward New Jersey when the injury occurred.
The caller to Orange County 911 could not tell the dispatcher their exact location on the trail.
The dispatcher instructed the caller on how to activate the GPS location services on his cell phone. That allowed the 911 center to receive the information and locate the hikers. Responding fire departments – Greenwood Lake and Warwick – entered the woods at the Blueberry Hill and Furnace trailhead in Greenwood Lake.
The hikers were located and the injured person was transported from the woods on a utility task vehicle and then taken to St. Anthony’s Hospital in Warwick for treatment by Warwick Ambulance.
“Orange County’s 911 center receives numerous calls throughout the year from injured or lost hikers asking for emergency assistance,” said County Emergency Services Commissioner Walter Koury. “We are pleased to have played a part in this rescue and thank the members of the fire departments who actually perform the difficult task of removing the victim from the woods in the dark.”
