A helicopter hoisted a hiker with a dislocated knee from near the Bells Canyon waterfall Saturday, Sept. 26. The rescue was the third search-and-rescue call in the canyons east of Cottonwood Heights in roughly 25 hours.

Salt Lake County Search and Rescue received the call about 10:30 a.m., according to Gephardt Daily. SAR crews were already committed to a separate cardiac arrest on Willow Heights Trail, where a call had come in just eight minutes earlier.

The Utah Department of Public Safety (DPS) Aero Bureau had deployed its helicopter to that cardiac arrest but was no longer needed there after the patient was stabilized. The agency redirected the aircraft to Bells Canyon, where the crew assessed the scene and hoisted the injured hiker.

Sandy City Fire hiked in to help.

The hiker was flown to the trailhead by about 11:50 a.m. and was in stable condition at the time of transport, SAR said in a news release.

Two more rescues in 25 hours

The Bells Canyon call was the second of two SAR emergencies Saturday morning. The first, at 10:21 a.m. on Willow Heights Trail, involved an out-of-state visitor believed to be in their 60s who went into sudden cardiac arrest about a mile up the trail, Gephardt Daily reported. Bystanders began CPR, and the patient regained a pulse before being transported by AirMed to a hospital.

A day earlier, on Friday, Sept. 25, a climber fell about 50 feet near Dromedary Peak while attempting the Wasatch Ultimate Ridge Link-up, known as the WURL. That hiker suffered significant arm and head injuries and was hoisted out by Life Flight by 10:21 a.m., according to a separate Gephardt Daily report.

SAR warned in its Friday news release that warm weather and approaching winter are pushing hikers to attempt the WURL before the route closes for the season, noting that one misstep can result in life-threatening injuries.

Residents who witness a backcountry emergency can call 911.