Two teens rescued from Franklin Mountains

The El Paso Fire Department’s Combined Search and Rescue Team rescued two teens who were hiking on the Franklin Mountains Friday morning in west El Paso, fire officials said.

Around 9:30 p.m. Thursday 17-year-old Julian Villalobos and an 18-year-old friend, called police to report they needed help getting down from an area near the 1,000 Step Trail, located on the 4800 block of Stanton Street.

“We just decided to call the cops because it was completely dark,” said Villalobos. “We were straight up about to go down on a cliff. It was insane.”

Fire crews were able to make contact with the two around 9:45 p.m. and locate them using GPS coordinates from their cell phones.

“Due to the terrain and lighting conditions, since it’s nighttime operations, it was decided to take the teenagers up to the ridge line of the mountain,” said EPFD spokesman Robert Arvizu. “They walked the top of the mountain to the tramway, where tramway personnel and staff arrived and assisted us with two males.”

Just past 1:30 a.m. Friday, the two teens made it safely down the mountain.

“I feel like I’m in a movie, but I’m just glad I’m on the ground,” Villalobos told ABC-7.

Arvizu said 16 firefighters, two police officers and two park rangers assisted in rescuing the teens.

Villalobos said he went hiking because he wanted to “hang out” with his friend before the friend’s military deployment.

Jerry Villalobos, Julian’s father, was waiting near the bottom of the trail.

He said Julian is a good kid and he’s thankful both teens are OK, He thanked all first responders for their help.