Coast Guard, local agencies rescue immobilized hiker on Central Coast, Jan. 3

Coast Guard and local fire department crews rescued a 19-year-old male hiker in the vicinity of Whale Cove, after he reportedly suffered seizures and became immobilized Tuesday evening, Jan. 2. An MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew, from Coast Guard Sector North Bend and forward deployed to Air Facility Newport, medevaced the hiker and safely transferred him to medical personnel at Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital. Sector watchstanders received a report from Lincoln City 911 dispatchers at 4 p.m. of a male with medical issues on a cliff and was unable to be moved by local rescuers. Members of Depoe Bay Fire and Rescue were already on scene and in addition to the Dolphin aircrew, a crew from Coast Guard Station Depoe Bay took a station vehicle too the scene, where they used radios to relay information between the fire members on the cliff and the aircrew. Due to the tree height and a strong east wind over the steep terrain the aircrew was unable to hoist the hiker from the cliff and landed in tidal pool on a cove shelf 100-feet below the cliff, where they could safely conduct the medevac.