Rick Lindfors-Ackerman – Meridian Editor in Chief
INDEPENDENCE, CALIF – Ingenuity, communication and a bit of automotive know-how all came into play during the rescue of a man in Inyo County, Calif. The man and a friend were hunting for quartz crystals on December 5, 2023 near Crystal Ridge around 7,300 feet. The area is a very popular spot for crystal seekers. The man, Kevin DePaolo, was digging under a large boulder on a steep slope when the ground gave way and the boulder rolled onto his right leg, pinning him into the hillside. Fortunately the group had cell service and they were able to call 911.
One team from Inyo County Search and Rescue drove to the site while another team went by helicopter. According to a volunteer who responded to the mission, some team members had recently visited the area, making navigation much quicker. The first team reached DePaolo around 1930, more than three hours after the boulder fell on him. In order to get the 6,000-10,000 lb. rock off, rescuers needed to combine push and pull forces. The team brought an off-road jack on the mission knowing that it would be needed to remove the boulder. They also brought a bolting kit consisting of a cordless hammer drill, bolts, a wrench and Yosemite hammer. The jack would lift the boulder while a seven-to-one rope system would pull from the other side. The team drilled anchors into the boulder to clip the rope system and attach a carabiner for the jack to hook onto. They also hammered rocks under the boulder so it wouldn’t budge any further onto their patient. The entire setup took 40 minutes. Once ready, one team member worked the jack and others worked the rope system. They only needed to lift the boulder three inches to free Depaolo and pull him away by his armpits.
DePaolo had serious injuries and pain from the boulder. An EMT on the team had a tourniquet pre-staged before extraction in case of massive hemorrhage. They didn’t see serious bleeding on his right leg after pulling him out so they didn’t tighten the tourniquet. DePaolo’s left thigh and right knee were avulsed and he was in increased pain now that he was no longer compressed between the boulder and the dirt beneath. The team packaged him in a vacuum split and sleeping bags but it did little to ease his pain.
The team now needed to get DePaolo off the mountain. The police helicopter that brought in one of the teams couldn’t hoist at night, so a SAR coordinator called for a U.S. Navy medevac from air station Lemore. The chopper flew in around midnight and hovered for about 50 minutes in order to burn off fuel to make the appropriate weight needed to be able to hoist DePaolo to safety. The SAR team EMT stayed with the patient the entire time until handing him off to the Navy medic for the flight to Fresno.
Days later, the team learned the full extent of DePaolo’s injuries. One of his femoral arteries had ruptured but had been pinned shut and clotted from the pressure from the boulder. His pelvis was also broken in two places. The volunteer on the mission says they suspected a potential pelvic injury due to not being able to ease his pain in the vacuum splint, but couldn’t confirm the injury in the field. The artery injury came as a total surprise. DePaolo said in an interview that the pelvis injury wasn’t surprising but the artery rupture was a shock. He expressed admiration and thanks for the SAR volunteers and medical staff that saved him. “These [volunteers] could have just been eating dinner [when getting the callout], I kept thinking about that,” he said. “Saving people’s lives is probably one of the most impactful things you can do.”
Photo
Rescuers used a lift jack and a rope system to lift a boulder off their patient (Inyo County SAR)
