911 Dispatcher Locates Injured Hiker Near Lake Berryessa On Facebook After Call Dropped

LAKE BERRYESSA (CBS SF) — An emergency dispatcher in training used Facebook to locate a hiker critically injured after falling a 150 feet down a cliff while hiking near Lake Berryessa last weekend.

Ryan Pritchard was hiking with his son in the remote Blue Ridge Loop Trail when he slipped and fell. His eleven-year-old son Jake called 911 but the call dropped before he could tell dispatchers give a location.

Dispatchers were hitting a dead-end trying to track the call, when trainee Breanna Martinez, who had only been on the job for three weeks, decided to do a search for Pritchard on Google, which lead to his Facebook page.

"I scrolled down and the very first post was a picture of his two sons and behind them was the lake—Lake Berryessa—and it just said, "Hiking the Blue Ridge Trail today," Martinez told CBS13 in Sacramento.

That post helped bring rescue crews to the area in time to get Pritchard out before sunset.

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