COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho (AP) — A helicopter flown by U.S. Air Force personnel rescued a 52-year-old female mountain biker who flipped over her handle bars and suffered two fractured ribs, two spinal fractures and a broken sternum on the Idaho-Montana border.
Paulette Kirby of Rapid City, S.D., was participating in the Idaho Expedition Race, a multi-day, multi-sport race east of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, when she had the accident near Thompson Pass in Shoshone County.
Nobody could reach her by all-terrain vehicle, so the UH-1N Iroquois helicopter was called in from Fairchild Air Force Base near Spokane, Wash., by the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office.
Kirby was flown to Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane for treatment.
The 36th Rescue Flight says last week’s operation was its 663rd rescue to date.
