On Friday evening, the Las Cruces Fire Department's Technical Rescue Team, along with three other highly-skilled rescue teams, helped extricate a group of hikers from a trail near The Needle in the Organ Mountains.
The LCFD's Technical Rescue Team learned that five hikers were possibly stranded on a trail to The Needle on the west face of the Organ Mountains. One of the hikers was suffering from symptoms of heat exhaustion and was unable to descend from the mountainside on his own.
Rescue team members ascended the trail and located three of the stranded hikers a little before 9 p.m. Two of the hikers were able to descend the trail by themselves. The rescue team helped the other three hikers, including the one suffering from heat exhaustion symptoms, descend the mountainside.
The hiker's injuries were not considered life-threatening. Friday's daytime high temperature in Las Cruces was 104 degrees. Although temperatures are slightly cooler in the Organ Mountains, they are still high and not conducive to hiking during the afternoon hours.
The Las Cruces Fire Department offers tips for safe hiking and camping. Those tips are pinned to LCFD's Facebook page here.