Rescuers assist hiker at Makapu'u
By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Bureau
MAKAPU'U — A hiker leading a group of students from Tokai University in Japan experienced heat exhaustion, fainted and was plucked from Makapu'u lighthouse trail yesterday afternoon by firefighters.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
The group of students walked down the trail with the rescue vehicle where their hiking leader, a 59-year-old O'ahu resident, was inside receiving medical attention.
A 59-year-old O'ahu man is helped into a wheelchair by a paramedic before being taken by ambulance to The Queen's Medical Center after he suffered heat exhaustion while leading a group of students on a hike at Makapu'u.
Firefighters at first thought the man had fallen from the cliff and sent out a rescue helicopter and two firefighter companies from Hawai'i Kai and Waimanalo to help. But the man was able to walk from the rescue vehicle. An ambulance took him to The Queen's Medical Center for treatment.
"The man was dehydrated," said fire Capt. Kenison Tejada. "By the time we got our rescue guys up there, the man was already walking up from the pools he had been exploring. Thankfully there were no injuries today."
Between the heat and surf pounding the rocky shore, the Makapu'u lighthouse trail has been the scene of many rescues. Last year, five hikers were injured at the tide pools by a rogue wave that knocked them down.
"This kind of day takes its toll on you," Tejada said.
Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com or 395-8831.
