A firefighter who helped rescue an injured hiker in western Boulder County is dead after collapsing on the trail, reports The Associated Press.
The Indian Peaks Fire Department firefighter was one of several people from different agencies who treated and evacuated a hiker who had a broken ankle near Brainard Lake on Wednesday afternoon.
After a helicopter arrived to pick up the hiker, the unidentified firefighter collapsed while descending the trail. The sheriff’s office says other rescuers immediately began CPR but the firefighter didn’t respond.
According to the United States Fire Administration firefighter fatality report, Indian Peaks Fire Protection District Firefighter Richard L. Marchman, 67, collapsed and died from an apparent heart attack in the Brainard Lake Recreational Area while hiking back out to the Blue Lake/Mitchell Lake Trailhead parking lot after he and fellow responders helped rescue an injured hiker and move her to a suitable location for transport by a Flight for Life helicopter to the Good Samaritan Hospital.
