Dramatic video has captured the helicopter rescue of a hiking couple that ran out of water in Joshua Tree amid California’s triple-digit heat wave.
A man called 911 from an area known as Painted Canyon on June 9 and reported that his girlfriend was weak and dehydrated, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office wrote on a social media post.
The department’s Rescue 9 helicopter was dispatched to the hikers’ location, and rescuers spotted the couple huddled in a dry creek bed. The man could be seen attempting to shield the woman’s body from the blistering heat and wind.
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The pair were hoisted one by one into the helicopter and flown to a nearby landing zone. There, the department said, an aeromedical helicopter rushed the woman to a hospital “due to her severe condition.”
The department told SFGATE that the man was driven in an ambulance to get medical attention.
According to the National Weather Service, the Painted Canyon area saw high temperatures ranging from 100 to 105 degrees Fahrenheit.
This week, the agency issued Excessive Heat Warnings and Heat Advisories across California’s Central Valley and the Desert Southwest.
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Nearly 19 million people in California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah and South Texas were issued these warnings — the most extreme form of heat alerts issued by the NWS — this past week.
“Please remember as the temps increase take more water than you think you will need, have a hiking plan, and tell two people where you are going,” the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in its social media post.
