District of North Vancouver firefighters were getting their steps in over the weekend, fetching four injured mountain bikers off the trails in three days.
“I would say that it's on par to some of our busier days,” said assistant fire chief David Dales.
On Friday afternoon, the crews were called to stretcher out two injured mountain bikers simultaneously. One had taken a fall on black diamond-rated Seventh Secret Trail on Mount Fromme and fractured a wrist. While they were at it, a second rider bailed further down Fromme on the Dempsey Connector, receiving a head injury in the process, Dales said.
Rescuers were back out Saturday for a mountain biker who had received head and back injuries after falling on the Mystery Creek Trail on Mount Seymour and again, on Sunday for a two-wheeled adventurer who broke their jaw on Boogie Nights Trail.
“These mountain bike rescues are extremely challenging because of the environment that they're riding,” Dales said. “Those are technical mountain bike trails that we have to hike up and down with a patient.”
Thankfully, most mountain bike injuries do not end up being life altering, Dales said.
Typically, injured mountain bikers are handed over to BC Ambulance Service paramedics and rescue crews bring their bikes back to the fire hall to be collected later.
“Some days, we are looking like a bike shop here,” Dales said.
Dales said fire and rescue members are usually quite good at locating an injured subject but, he added, the more information they can get beforehand, the better.
“We use technology to pinpoint their location, but when they actually give us real good details over the 911 system, our firefighters are able to get to the patient very quickly and evacuate them off the mountain very quickly,” he said.
