The Sedona Fire District had a busy afternoon on Sunday, Nov. 6, carrying out two rescues simultaneously in the Coconino National Forest and the Munds Mountain Wilderness.

At 1 p.m., the district received an emergency call from a hiker in the Margs Draw area south of Snoopy Rock and dispatched an engine and an ambulance from Station No. 6 under the command of a battalion chief.

It took the rescue crew just over an hour to reach the scene of the accident, including a 40-minute hike with their full equipment.

While the use of motorized vehicles in wilderness areas is permitted in emergencies “involving the health and safety of persons,” in the words of the Wilderness Act, the location where the accident occurred, east of the Morgan Drive roundabout on State Route 179, is not accessible by road.

The victim was a woman who had fallen into a dry wash crossing the Margs Draw Trail. The responding crew identified a broken leg, treated her for the pain and transferred her to the Verde Valley Medical Center for further treatment. Since there are no roads into the area where the accident occurred and the trail generally parallels the nearest road, the responders transported her down the dry wash to reach the ambulance.

“We do it frequently,” Sedona Fire Chief Ed Mezulis said. The district uses a Stokes basket fitted with a bicycle wheel to simplify mountain rescues.

Another hiker who remained at the scene until the response team left speculated that the victim had tripped over her overly-loyal dog, although so far that has not been confirmed.

“It wouldn’t be unusual,” Mezulis commented, noting that tripping is the leading cause of hiking injuries.

Meanwhile, a crew from a different station was carrying out another rescue operation farther south, along the Slim Shady Trail.

“It was the weekend and the weather is wonderful,” Mezulis said.