NAVAL AIR STATION WHIDBEY ISLAND, Wash. – A Search and Rescue (SAR) team from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island assisted in the rescue of four individuals involved in a vehicular accident near T-Rex Falls in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest near Wilkeson, Wash., on June 26,2025.

Early this morning, Station SAR Whidbey was notified by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center that Pierce County Fire and Sheriff Departments’ needed assistance in rescuing people involved in a rollover accident where a vehicle had plummeted about 250 ft. over a cliff.

While there were four people involved in the accident, two of them needed airlift assistance. Rescue teams were able to assist one of those individuals to an extraction where Airlift Northwest provided transport to a local hospital. The other, a 20-year-old man, was hoisted by Station SAR Whidbey and transported to a different hospital.

Station SAR Whidbey has conducted 20 missions this calendar year, which includes 5 MEDEVACs, 2 searches and 12 rescues.

The Navy SAR unit operates three MH-60S helicopters from NAS Whidbey Island as search and rescue/medical evacuation (SAR/MEDEVAC) platforms for the EA-18G aircraft as well as other squadrons and personnel assigned to the installation.  Pursuant to the National SAR Plan of the United States, the unit may also be used for civil SAR/MEDEVAC needs to the fullest extent practicable on a non-interference basis with primary military duties according to applicable national directives, plans, guidelines and agreements; specifically, the unit may launch in response to tasking by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center (based on a Washington State Memorandum of Understanding) for inland missions, and/or tasking by the United States Coast Guard for all other aeronautical and maritime regions, when other assets are unavailable.