Payson Roundup

With clear skies and temperatures reaching the high 60s, the beautiful weather in the Rim Country over the weekend caused a few headaches for authorities.

On Sunday, a 55-year-old Valley man was airlifted to a Scottsdale hospital after his ATC flipped over, landing on top of him in the Tonto Village area.

The man was riding a three-wheeler or ATC with several friends when he went up a trail and flipped backwards around 3:45 p.m., said Hellsgate Battalion Chief Doug Blazer.

It took firefighters around an hour to locate the man because of the remote area. The man was riding on Forest Service Road 433, which is between Star Valley and the Control Road.

When firefighters arrived, they had to find quads of their own to get back to the man. A neighbor in Ellison Creek Summer Homes, who had heard about the accident, met firefighters near the road and offered to take Blazer back on his quad with his equipment. Blazer loaded his supplies and backboard onto the quad and hitched a ride. While the injured man was only three miles off the road, it took Blazer even longer to get to him because the ATV he was riding on got two flat tires. By the time Blazer arrived, other firefighters in the area had brought their own quads over and were assisting.

Blazer said the man complained of severe back pain but was in stable condition.

A DPS Ranger helicopter was called in and was able to land in a nearby creek to take the man out.

“It was quite amazing to see it land in the creek,” Blazer said.

Four hours after receiving the call. Blazer and the other firefighters made it back to the station.