Successful Search and Rescue in Berea College Forest
On Tuesday around 9:40 pm, the Red Lick Volunteer and Madison County Fire Departments were dispatched to Horse Cove Road to find five lost hikers in the Berea College Forest.
Five young adults out for a planned day hike but became lost. They were caught off guard by the darkness without essential navigation tools or extra water.
Fortunately, the hikers managed to contact Madison County Dispatch via satellite using their iPhone's SOS system. Dispatchers were then able to pinpoint the hikers location. A ground search was immediately initiated.
Around 10:00 pm, a team of three Madison County Sheriff’s Deputies and two Red Lick VFD firefighters began the trek into the woods, carrying extra water and medical supplies. They were soon joined by another group of RLVFD and MCFD personnel.
The initial part of the hike was easy on a dirt forest service road, but the direct path to the hikers involved navigating difficult terrain, including dense undergrowth and creek crossings, estimated to be about two miles long.
As the search teams approached the vicinity, dispatchers kept the first responders updated through text messages sent to and received from the hikers. The ground crews actively listened and used rescue whistles to signal their position and get the hikers’ attention. After hearing the whistles and seeing the first responders approaching, the lost hikers confirmed their location.
Contact was established around 10:10 pm. The five hikers were successfully evacuated shortly after, receiving water and being assessed as healthy and ready to hike out. For the first time that night, they knew that they wouldn’t have to sleep in the woods.
Everyone was safely out of the woods by 11:00 pm, concluding the operation successfully.