Hiking and mountain biking around some the 90 miles of trails in Chino Hills State Park is a great way to enjoy the beauty of the state park and get some exercise.
Lots of fun until, ouch! You have an unexpected stumble, slid into a gully and now your ankle is throbbing and hurts if you try to move it. There is no way you can’t make it back to the trailhead.
How do you get help? And how can someone locate you?
Brea’s Fire Department is ready for any hiking emergency, thanks to their trained emergency personnel and a very cool utility terrain vehicle, or UTV. I recently got to ride along in the UTV with Capt. Bill Schaefer and firefighters Dillon Fetty, Mason Fishback and Chase Kayl.
While I wasn’t along on an actual rescue operation I experienced first hand the rough and wild terrain they have to traverse in the UTV to reach downed hikers and mountain bikers within the 14,000 acres of Chino Hills State Park and the other hills surrounding Brea.
According to Fire Chief Mark Terrill, the UTV was purchased in 2018 for $31,252.
“The cost of the vehicle was partially funded by projected Fire Department savings of $14,251 and $17,000 in donations received,” said Terrill.
Capt. Schaefer added that the donations came from three sources: Walmart, FlexFit and Bright Energy. And the names of all three of the Brea businesses are on the UTV.
So far, 16 people have been rescued with the UTV, and remote rescues are its primary use. Terrill noted that it is also used for fire road maintenance, surveys, training and mutual aid.
“For mutual aid purposes,” said Terrill, “the Brea Fire Department has worked together with the cities of Chino Hills, Yorba Linda and Fullerton, as well as the Huntington Beach Air Show and various city of Brea events.”
Maybe you saw it at last month’s National Night Out on Birch Street in Brea Downtown, like I did.
It is big, bright red and for sure a very welcomed sight to injured hikers and bikers.
And speaking of bikers, especially those…
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