Chesterfield firefighters rescue injured hiker from Devil’s Marbleyard in Rockbridge County

CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — Chesterfield County firefighters partnered with Virginia State Police on Sunday to rescue an injured hiker from the Devil’s Marbleyard, a rock formation and popular hiking destination in Rockbridge County.

The MedFlight crew — a collaboration between Chesterfield County Fire & EMS and Virginia State Police — was called to the Devil’s Marbleyard on the afternoon of Sunday, Sept. 15 to rescue an injured hiker.

A spokesperson with Chesterfield Fire & EMS told 8News that the hiker was hurt after falling and could not safely make it off of the trail by themselves due to the marble yard’s difficult terrain.

The MedFlight crew, which was already out on another call when they were called to the marble yard, flew to the Chesterfield County Airport to refuel, then responded to Rockbridge to aid the hiker.

Local fire crews with the Glasgow Volunteer Fire Department made it out to the hiker on foot. They stabilized the hiker while MedFlight was in transit.

Once they arrived, the MedFlight team worked to extract the hiker. According to fire officials, a Virginia State Police pilot kept the helicopter steady as a Chesterfield firefighter was lowered 150 feet down to the hiker. This firefighter then secured the hiker and hoisted them to safety.

After the hiker was safely in the helicopter, the crew flew to the nearest trauma center to get them treatment. The spokerspon said their injuries were not considered life-threatening,

According to fire officials, the MedFlight program is unique in that its crew can both execute rescues and function as a med-evac to handle trauma care.

This is the second hiker rescued by this crew in the last month, with the previous rescue taking place in late August in Augusta County . A spokesperson told 8News that, before that, it’d been about 5 years since MedFlight was called to a “hoist rescue” such as this. The crew still regularly trains for such scenarios.

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