Eight fire units from Redmond Fire Department and one fire engine from Woodinville Fire Department participated in a multi-company drill on the morning of July 25, to test the usefulness of a new trail marker system in the Trilogy at Redmond Ridge community.

According to Redmond Fire Captain Loren Charlston, the trails in the Trilogy and Redmond Ridge neighborhoods and the Redmond Watershed Preserve are the only ones in King County with color-coded and labeled markers, as well as trail head instructions on how to use the markers if you need to call 9-1-1 while on the trails.

The trail markers in Trilogy are blue, markers in Redmond Ridge are green and Watershed markers are tan. Knowing the color of the marker and the letter and number on the marker can dramatically increase response time from emergency personnel.

Charlston explained, “What we had before was people saying, ‘I’m having a heart attack,’ or ‘I twisted my ankle and I can’t walk. I’m near a big cedar tree with a fork in the top.’ To them, it makes sense but when we’d go in and try to locate them, it’s not easy.”

At the drill on July 25, a real horse and dog were included as part of the mock emergency scenario. In the scenario, an off-leash dog startled a horse and the rider was thrown from the horse. The rider, portrayed by a volunteer, was conscious but complaining of back and neck pain. The dog owner, also played by a volunteer, was an elderly person who became very upset at the scene and began to experience severe chest pain.

The fire department crews actually responded to two different mock 9-1-1 calls for the drill. During the first call, the caller gave the firefighters enough information to help them zero in on a trail but not the exact location on the trail.

“The Incident Commander had to direct units in from the south, middle of the trail, north trail section and far north trail section to look for the patient,” said Charlston.

“The patient called 9-1-1 again and stated that they were near a blue sign that said O3 which tells our firefighters the exact location: on the Kari Bog Trail, north of the Cascade Club and near the Overlook Trail. What a great tool,” Charlston remarked.

To complete the drill, “the back/neck pain patient was stabilized for precautionary C-spine and was transported out of the trail system via our litter wheel and the heart attack patient was transported out of the trail system by a Trilogy gator, to a waiting medical unit,” said Charlston.

The drill proved that the marker system is effective and best of all, “no tax were spent on this project,” Charlston noted. Trilogy residents installed the signs.

“Joe Moya and Janice Fluter, who are Trilogy residents, have worked tirelessly with Redmond Fire Department to improve safety on the trail system,” said Charlston.

“They believe Trilogy has a great trail system and together, we are working on ways to improve the safety of the trails in 2010. We have developed something that King County Parks calls a model trail system. I have heard that Trilogy sales people tell prospective home buyers about the trail system and the safety of the trail marker program,” Charlston concluded.