Phoenix firefighters responded to three separate emergencies on Camelback Mountain Tuesday, urging hikers to know their limits as record heat grips the Valley.<\/p>\n
PHOENIX, Arizona \u2014 Three back-to-back rescues near the Echo Canyon Trailhead on Camelback Mountain kept Phoenix firefighters busy Tuesday, all in record-breaking heat.<\/p>\n
It started around 11:30 a.m. when a woman slipped and hurt her ankle a quarter of the way up the mountain. While crews assessed her, a second woman went dizzy a third of the way up. Then a man fell and needed help too.<\/p>\n
Two of the three hikers were hoisted off the mountain. The man was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The other two refused transport.<\/p>\n
‘You’re putting your firefighters at risk too’<\/p>\n
Phoenix Fire Captain Todd Keller says while crews are trained and prepared to respond, the extreme heat is something they never take lightly.<\/p>\n
“I know that we’re going on them quite a few times a week,” Keller said. “You have to remember, you’re not only putting yourself at risk, you’re putting your firefighters at risk, you’re putting your first responders at risk too.”<\/p>\n
Keller says the department is optimistic this isn’t a sign of what’s to come but says Tuesday’s rescues serve as a timely reminder.<\/p>\n
“We hope not, but this is a great reminder, please hike in the cooler parts of the day,” he said. “Wear proper footwear, bring a fully charged cell phone, take your time. It’s easy to run down the mountain, it’s hard to run up. Make your trip a round-trip ticket.”<\/p>\n
He also shared a simple rule of thumb: when your water bottle is halfway gone, your hike should be halfway over.<\/p>\n
Tips from a seasoned hiker<\/p>\n
Chandler hiker Carter Schmitz says he takes extra precautions when hitting the trails in the heat, including packing extra water and sunscreen.<\/p>\n
“Camelbacks are really nice, maybe it’s a little bit more weight on the body, but an extra water bottle, a granola bar or an apple,” Schmitz said. “I usually like something at the top. If you need a little snack or a little boost of energy, you have it just in case.”<\/p>\n
What you should know before you hike<\/p>\n
Phoenix Fire officials are urging hikers to keep these tips in mind before heading out:<\/p>\n
Hike early or late \u2014 avoid peak heat hours between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.Bring more water than you think you needWear proper footwearCarry a fully charged cell phoneKnow your limits \u2014 turn around before you’re too tired or too hot to get back down safely <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Phoenix firefighters responded to three separate emergencies on Camelback Mountain Tuesday, urging hikers to know their limits as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":527945,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,451,3,452,453],"class_list":["post-527944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527944\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/527945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}