PHOENIX — A medical helicopter crashed near Phoenix Tuesday, killing a flight nurse and a pilot.
Paramedic Derek Boehm, 38, was the only survivor.
After the helicopter crashed, Boehm, with two broken femurs, fractured scapula, ribs and ankle, provided aid and support to his partner until he died. He then used a flashlight to signal a search aircraft.
Air-rescue pilot Scott Clifton and trooper paramedic Angela Rose from the Arizona Department of Safety were first to go to the rescue, The Arizona Republic reported.
Using night-visions goggles, they spotted the crash site quickly, and then they saw something else. A flash of light waving back and forth.
“That’s when we realized we had a survivor,” Clifton said.
Without a place to land that was near enough, Rose jumped out the helicopter as it hovered one foot off the mountain.
Once she reached the site, Rose realized there was only one survivor, who was screaming and shivering, covered in snow and jet fuel.
Rose covered him in a blanket and gave him her own coat and gloves.
AirEvac managed to land about a quarter-mile away. The priority was to extract Boehm from the scene.
Finally, an Air Force Pararescue team reached the crash site as well, lowered a Stokes basket and lifted Boehm.
“Had the Air Force not been available, we would not be able to get him out that night,” Rose said. “Once I saw him being hoisted, I was confident — well, hopeful — he would make it.”
A military veteran, flight paramedic, husband and father, Boehm is now in an intensive care unit, with a long road to recovery ahead of him.
A GoFundMe page was created to help Boehm’s family cover his medical bills.
“Derek Boehm is the kind of guy that if you are at work, you hope he’s on your team; if your heart stops, you hope he is the paramedic that arrives to save your life; he is the kind of person that would never ask for help, but will always be the first to offer it,” the page, created by Lena Walker, states.