Two Santa Cruzans Take Part in Dramatic Wilderness Rescues

Two Santa Cruz residents working as camp counselors in the Shasta Trinity Forest in Castella, Calif., helped rescue an Air Force major and a California Highway Patrol officer Thursday.

Elizabeth Fitch and Bryce Harbert, working for the Palo Alto-based Camp Unalayee, were leading a group of young campers on a two-day hike at the park's Big Bear Lake when U.S. Air Force 99th Medical Operations Squadron Cardio-Pulmonary Flight commander and intensive care unit director Maj. Jeremy Kilburn, M.D., who was hiking with Sunnyvale resident and life long friend Dan Grasso, stumbled back to their tent, according to Kilburn.

Kilburn, in recounting the incident to reporters, was hiking around the lake with Grasso at around 1 p.m. when his German Sheppard bumped into him, causing the 34-year-old Las Vegas resident to misstep and fracture his leg.

With the help of Grasso, Kilburn managed to get to a snow patch to ice the leg. By 3 p.m., the two managed to make it to their tent over 100 yards away, where they encountered Fitch and Harbert, whom Kilburn said they had met the day before.

Fitch and Harbert used their CB radio system to connect with their base camp and put a call into CHP for a rescue helicopter. CHP arrived on the scene at 4 p.m., landing on an upslope rock not much bigger than the helicopter, Grasso said.

It was about 100 yards downhill from Kilburn's location. The helicopter's main rotor blade struck CHP flight officer and paramedic Tony Stanley in the head while he was getting out, leaving him critically injured.

"I was sitting on rock, feeling pathetic from breaking my leg, and in the blink of an eye, everything changed," Kilburn said. "I was very scared for this [Stanley's] life. I just wanted to help him so much."

Harbert and Fitch met Kilburn and Grasso down the hill to help treat Stanley with Kilburn's guidance. Harbert applied pressure to the officer's wounds while Fitch manually pumped air into Stanley to help him with his breathing. Stanley was in and out of consciousness, Kilburn said.

CHP Officer Brian Henderson, the other member of the two-man rescue crew, insisted that Fitch join Kilburn and Stanley on the helicopter to make the 41-mile flight to Mercy Medical Center in Redding to get both men treated, Kilburn said.

Fitch was chosen mainly for weight purposes but her role on the flight was vital to Stanley's survival, Kilburn said. She applied pressure to Stanley's wound, stabilized his spine and assisted with Kilburn's needs.

"Her role in this is far larger than mine," Kilburn said.

Henderson landed the helicopter on the medical center's helipad adjacent to the building and the two patients were rushed in to be treated.

"If it weren't for the other three there, the officer would be dead," Kilburn said.

Kilburn reportedly blames himself for the whole incident.

"If I didn't break my leg, this never would have happened," he said. 

Kilburn was discharged from Mercy Medical on Thursday night and returned to Las Vegas by Saturday. He returned to work Monday morning, getting around with crutches and a wheelchair. Stanley remains hospitalized in serious condition, CHP Lt. Scott Fredrick said.

Henderson is on leave to recover from the traumatic incident. There is no timetable for his return, Fredrick said.

—Bay City News