MARINE CORPS AIR STATION YUMA, Ariz. -- The station’s Search and Rescue continued their service to the citizens of Yuma in 2011 with two rescues on Jan. 29 and Feb. 2.
SAR’s rescue on Feb. 2 came after a Dateland resident, Christina Renaudia, became lost while out searching for her dog. A search began at 10 p.m., however, after seven hours of searching the Yuma Police Department called SAR for assistance.
“We’d been out there for awhile and realized we weren’t going to find her without help,” said Deputy Ted Parker, YPD officer. “We had to get some eyes in the sky, and it helped, they found her a lot faster than we ever could.”
After SAR located the woman and picked her up, they took her to the SAR command post to be picked up by authorities.
“They were very courteous,” said Renaudia. “They made me feel a lot less stupid then I thought I was. I was so glad to see their helicopter. I was jumping for joy and waving like crazy.”
The circumstances in SAR’s Jan. 29 rescue, however, were much graver.
“The woman had been out riding an all-terrain vehicle when she crashed,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class Douglas Johnson, SAR corpsman. “She had a broken pelvis and some spinal trauma. No other medical support was able to reach her, but we got her.”
After the crew landed, Johnson treated and prepared her for transport. After picking her up and flying to Quartzsite, Ariz., SAR transferred her to Care Flight, a private medical helicopter rescue service, so she could be taken to Phoenix for further treatment.
SAR flew 27 rescue missions in 2010, helping find lost hikers, picking up dehydrated individuals, treating wounds and many others. So far this year, SAR has flown four rescue missions in service of the local community, the latest of which was Feb. 15, involving another ATV accident near Lake Martinez.