No matter the time of day, or even night, it seems people are always in motion on the Valley's mountains. First responders often can't catch a break from going up and down them when someone is knocked down by the heat.
"We kept stopping and the more we did we had no water. The more than we stopped the harder it got. I started getting really dizzy,” said Tatiana Robinson.
On June 23, 2022, a dozen women on a retreat got into trouble.The group was doing a late-morning hike along the Echo Canyon Trail on Camelback Mountain while filming a television show.
"Started having heart palpitations. The heat was just a little bit too much for me,” said Kesia Carter.
While the experience might have been new for the group visiting from California, it was not to Phoenix Fire Captain Evan Gammage.
"I've seen the gauntlet of things. You get exposed to a lot of things in our career,” said Captain Gammage.
Ranging from fires to crashes and rescues.
The Phoenix Fire Department worked 136 mountain rescues between January and July 2022.
"I would say it is one of the highest profile workloads we have in the city of Phoenix because it is not uncommon, on a shift-to-shift basis, to have a mountain rescue,” added Capt. Gammage.
ABC15 learned with cooler than average temperatures we had fewer mountain rescues this summer.
In June 2022, firefighters rescued 13 people compared to 18 in June 2021 and 20 in June 2020.
In July 2022, the department helped 23 compared to 13 in July 2021 and 18 in July 2020.
With so many rescues, fire crews from all over stay ready.
"So, if you call 911, the closest unit is going to go,” said Chandler Firefighter Miko Countouriotis.
Countouriotis, like firefighters from other cities, understand it's a Valley-wide effort when it comes to mountain rescues.
"It doesn't matter if you are in Tempe and a Chandler unit is closest, or you're in Phoenix and a Chandler unit is across the street,” added Countouriotis.
ABC15 caught up with Mesa Fire Captain Mike Thomas during specialized training. His department spends 200 hours training for mountain rescues with other departments.
"That puts us all on the same page. We are all learning the same thing. We are operating off the same playbook,” said Captain Thomas.
Training takes time and money and money is top of mind when looking at the use of resources. Even so, Phoenix Fire is against charging hikers for rescues.
"We've looked at that and said we never want anybody to pause before they dial 911,” said Phoenix Fire Captain Rob McDade.
