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Firefighters find fallen hiker at Lanipo after rescuing her dog

NINA WU / 2022
                                The Honolulu Fire Department received a 911 call at 3:04 p.m. for a missing hiker on the Lanipo Trail at Mauna Lani Heights. Six units with about 17 personnel responded, including the Air 1 helicopter, for the search and rescue operation.

NINA WU / 2022

The Honolulu Fire Department received a 911 call at 3:04 p.m. for a missing hiker on the Lanipo Trail at Mauna Lani Heights. Six units with about 17 personnel responded, including the Air 1 helicopter, for the search and rescue operation.

Honolulu firefighters on Monday rescued a hiker who had fallen more than 170 feet below a trail above Kaimuki after finding her dog alone on a mountain slope.

The Honolulu Fire Department received a 911 call at 3:04 p.m. for a missing hiker on the Lanipo Trail at Mauna Lani Heights. Six units with about 17 personnel responded, including the Air 1 helicopter, for the search and rescue operation.

Hikers had reported a barking dog on a mountain slope about two hours from the trailhead without its handler.

Using the geolocation of the 911 caller, Air 1 visually located the dog, and a rescuer rappelled about 20 feet down the slope to retrieve it at 3:55 p.m.

The Air 1 pilot noticed an object another 70 feet below where the dog was found, so the rescuer rappeled down the slope again to find a bag filled with personal items.

However, the owner of the dog could not be reached by the phone number listed on the dog’s collar.

After determining that the dog’s owner was not at home and that her car was still at the trailhead, HFD continued a coordinated search by ground and air.

Firefighters at 5:37 p.m. found the owner — a 35-year-old woman — another 100 feet below where her bag was located, under thick foliage.

Following a medical assessment and basic life support treatment, rescuers airlifted the woman to the nearby landing zone at about 6 p.m., where her care was transferred to Emergency Medical Services.

EMS transported her to the hospital in serious condition.

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