8,600-Foot Ridge Rescue Followed Satellite SOS
A Garmin inReach distress signal drew a sheriff's helicopter crew to hoist three people off the Sierra Buttes on Sunday.
By Bianca Herrera ·
The Sierra County Sheriff's Office received an alert at about 2:30 p.m. Sunday after a Garmin inReach satellite communication device transmitted an SOS to the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services. Deputies opened a search and rescue operation, calling in the Nevada County Sheriff's Search and Rescue Mountain Rescue Team and the RAVEN helicopter crew from the Washoe County Sheriff's Office.
The group was located on the Sierra Buttes, just below a lookout tower near the summit. Once the aircraft reached them, a rescue team member was lowered to the hikers. All three were hoisted from the mountainside and flown to a landing zone where Sierra County deputies were waiting.
The sheriff's office said the terrain and location made the helicopter hoist necessary. The agency declined to explain how the three became stranded or whether anyone was hurt.
The Sierra Buttes stand above the North Yuba River canyon and rise to roughly 8,600 feet, with a fire lookout near the top, according to the Pacific Crest Trail Association. The mountain sits in Northern California.
Two other Northern California rescues occurred earlier in October. A 39-year-old Florida climber fell through a snow bridge on Whitney Glacier and injured his leg. Weather blocked an aerial lift, so crews carried him to a landing zone the next day, the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office said. On Mount Shasta, a 19-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman from Salt Lake City spent 36 hours trapped between cliffs before rescue. Neither was hurt.
Commenters on social media praised the crews. One wrote, "To see that Sheriff Balaam uses the RAVEN team to assist anywhere they are needed is outstanding and certainly shows just how valuable the unit has become to the region."
