A Saskatchewan man is alive after a late-night rescue by the Local HERO Foundation and two Fort McMurray paramedics.
On Wednesday, HERO was contacted by the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Trenton, Ontario after they received a message from RCMP in Black Lake, Saskatchewan.
A man, along with his dog, was reportedly canoeing when they hit rapids and tipped over. He was able to signal his location using his SPOT device, a satellite GPS messenger.
Paul Spring, President of the Local HERO Foundation, tells Mix News the individual was reportedly in very bad shape.
“He had lost all of his gear, was injured, wet, hypothermic, and needing rescue.”
HERO was deemed the closest to the individual, despite being in a different province, and quickly started the multi-hour trek with two paramedics from the Fort McMurray Fire Department.
The helicopter was able to locate the man, however, they were unable to land with the paramedics forced to exit as it hovered just above the ground.
“They hiked into the gentleman, the helicopter went back into an orbit, stayed on scene for about a half an hour and was called back down and they managed to help the gentleman onto the aircraft with his black labrador,” added Spring.
The man was then transported to a Saskatchewan hospital and is currently recovering from his injuries.
Spring notes this was a real ‘life or death’ situation that, fortunately, had a lot of things go right.
“If it did not have the night vision goggles, you can’t fly hundreds of miles into the wilderness without that type of technology, and even this technology this man had, at least he could alert someone.”