Last Thursday night, a Minnesota Air Rescue Team (MART) helicopter swooped into the Boundary Waters to pull two canoers out of a very cold and very precarious situation. After their canoe flipped, the pair were left stranded and soaked in near-freezing conditions on a remote lake. Crews lowered a rope from high above, brought each person aboard, and flew them to an airport dozens of miles away. Both were uninjured and expected to be OK.
According to the Star Tribune, Lake County dispatchers got the distress call at about 7 p.m. Strong currents and rising water kept ground crews from reaching the scene, so MART launched and flew roughly an hour and a half north. Officials described it as the team’s second nighttime rescue this year and said it was the first time they had hoisted people into the helicopter at night to save them.
How the hoist worked
St. Paul Fire Captain Riley Onofrio, who operates MART’s hoist, told the Star Tribune that crew members used night-vision goggles to spot the stranded pair, then lowered a rope from about 260 feet to lift them out. He said the canoers had managed to build a small signal fire but had lost the rest of their gear, which made the roughly 32-degree temperatures even more dangerous for the wet campers.
Onofrio also urged visitors to pack as if they might need help. He recommended multiple light sources, spare batteries, and a GPS locator so rescuers can find people quickly when things go sideways.
Why MART's new tools matter
The successful rescue highlighted recent investments in MART’s night-hoist capabilities. The Minnesota Department of Public Safety says state funding helped pay for expanded training and for putting a Bell 429 “Trooper 7” helicopter into service that is outfitted for hoist operations. According to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, specialized live-night drills and certification are what made it possible for MART to carry out hoist rescues in the dark.
What to expect this summer
Local officials say MART cuts response times in vast, remote counties where getting in by road or boat can take many hours. Firehouse notes that MART’s call volume has gone up and that the team generally does not bill residents for rescues, a policy intended to keep people from hesitating to call for help.
Rescuers stress that solid planning is still the first line of defense. They urge visitors to check the weather, share their route and timing with someone back home, and bring charging options for locator devices. In the Boundary Waters, something as small as an extra pack of batteries and a working satellite messenger can be the difference between a quick extraction and a very long, very cold night.
