A woman had to be rescued in Ellison Provincial Park yesterday after a mountain biking crash.

Vernon Fire Rescue Services was called to the park at about 1:15 pm yesterday afternoon to assist a 71-year-old woman who crashed while riding down the Ellison Connector Mountain Biking Trail. 

Photo credit: City of Vernon

The crash happened about 6km down the trail from the parking lot.

A total of seven firefighters, including one off-duty firefighter, assisted the patient who suffered undetermined injuries. 

Crew members used a spine board, basket stretcher and a fat wheel to transport the patient to an ambulance at the parking lot.

“The fat tire is a brand new piece of equipment we’ve recently added to our toolkit,” said Deputy Chief Dwight Seymour. 

“It actually went into service within the last couple weeks and proved to be an exceptionally helpful tool with today’s rescue.”

Crews were on scene for about 2.5 hours and the patient was transported to hospital by BC Ambulance Service. 

The on-duty captain said the patient appeared to be in “good spirits” during the event.