Sick scouts call for help 1,300 miles away

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Emergency dispatchers in Kansas City were a little flummoxed this week when they got a call for help from an unlikely place -- the north rim of the Grand Canyon.

Twelve members of Boy Scout Troop 37 from Overland Park, Kan., were hiking down Thunder Valley Trail in Surprise Valley Monday afternoon when three of their members began suffering from heat exhaustion and dehydration.

After a troop member was unable to get an answer to his satellite phone calls to 911, he called one of the troop's volunteer leaders in Kansas City and explained the situation before the line went dead.

The volunteer called Metro Ambulance Services Trust, which dispatches ambulances in the Kansas City area. After clearing up the initial confusion, MAST dispatcher Mike Murray agreed to help, contacting Missouri authorities, who then put him in contact with Arizona authorities.

They hooked him up with a park ranger, who then connected him with a search and rescue team. Rangers quickly figured out where the group was and the two adults and one boy were soon taken by helicopter to a clinic, where they were treated and released.

Scout master Shane Keyser, who was not able to go on the trip, said Wednesday that the six adults and six 13- to 16-year-old boys were in good condition and continuing their hike in the canyon.

"We went in there with a wealth of knowledge of what could happen," Keyser said. "We were prepared."

However, he said that while the scouts knew temperatures would be above 100 degrees, it was hotter than they expected.

Keyser said the group brought three gallons of water each for the 10-mile hike, leaving part of it halfway down the trail for the trip out. He said nine of the members made it to the watering hole and were cooling off but the other three lagged behind, ran out of water and started suffering from dehydration.

"It was the heat that did them in," Keyser said.

Murray, MAST dispatcher, cell and satellite phones mean dispatchers never know where the next call will be from. Still, he said, getting a call from the Grand Canyon was a first.

"The person on the other end I was dealing with was very good about directions and information," Murray said. So "this all went pretty smooth."