Sierra Sheriff’s New Search Team Participates in E-Bike Rider Rescue
Volunteers joined first responders to extract a man with a broken leg from Pauley Creek Trail.
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First responders used a wheeled stretcher, similar to the one pictured above, to extract the patient. The pictured rescue took place in Plumas County last year. Credit: Plumas County Search and Rescue.
DOWNIEVILLE — Sierra County emergency services personnel responded to an e-bike accident on Pauley Creek Trail northeast of Downieville on April 8. A 9-1-1 hang-up at about 8 PM prompted dispatchers to contact the caller again, who reported that a family member had potentially broken a leg. GPS coordinates guided crews to the remote mountain trail.
Downieville Fire Department’s paramedic and a Sheriff’s deputy hiked in immediately, while the core of the Sheriff’s new hasty search and rescue team assembled, along with additional members from Downieville Fire and Camptonville Fire Departments. The victim was located with a lower leg break described as a non-compound fracture. Medical aid was rendered on scene.
Rescuers carried the man on a backboard for about 30 minutes until additional help arrived. Personnel from the Camptonville Fire Department brought a wheeled rescue stretcher. The team transferred the patient into the wheeled litter and moved him along the trail to the Empire Ranch trailhead, where a ground ambulance was waiting. California Highway Patrol declined a hoist operation because of nighttime conditions and thunderstorms in the area.
The ambulance transported the man to Ramshorn, where crews eventually loaded the patient into a Medevac helicopter for transport to a hospital. Sheriff Mike Fisher said the airlift occurred primarily because of the long extraction time rather than an immediate life-threatening emergency.
The Sierra County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue “hasty team” participated as a newly formed unit. Sheriff Fisher explained that the unit now has a small core of volunteers following the Office’s acceptance of a $60,000 grant from Direct Relief in December of 2025. The funds support a planned 10-member team equipped with backpacks, first-aid supplies, GPS units, ropes, and other gear. Fisher noted the new unit would “provide rapid, effective emergency response across Sierra County’s rugged and remote terrain.” The Sheriff’s Office has worked for over a year to launch the team locally and reduce reliance on mutual aid from Nevada County. Fisher plans to expand the group, saying he will soon accept public applications for volunteers.