Rescue team responds to hiker’s distress call in Franklin Mountains

The El Paso Fire Department responded to a 911 call from a hiker Monday night after he reported getting stuck on the Ron Coleman trail. But when rescue crews arrived, the hiker had already made his way down from the mountain.

The incident began just before 9 pm, when emergency crews say a 22-year-old man called them to report that he was in a dangerous situation. “Rain was coming down hard, lightning everywhere, snakes everywhere, he had very little power in his phone, so he did the right thing and call 911,” said El Paso Fire Department spokesman Carlos Briano.

The Fire Department was able to pinpoint the location of the hiker using the coordinates from his phone’s GPS. However, when rescue crews arrived at the coordinates, the hiker had already made his way down the mountain through an arroyo.

While the hiker was checked out by a medical team and is expected to be fine, Briano urges the public not to repeat the hiker’s actions and to avoid coming down the mountain via arroyos. “If it had started raining, there would have been flash floods there,” Briano told ABC-7. Briano also warns that there is a greater likelihood of running into snakes in the arroyos.