Crews respond to snakebite in Ute Valley Park

A woman was airlifted to a hospital and is being treated for a snakebite Monday afternoon.

The Colorado Springs Fire Department was able to get to the hiker and get her airlifted out safely.

Joe Salwin said he found the woman on the trail.

“Hers looked like a pretty big snake the fang marks were pretty far spread out,” Salwin said.

Salwin tried to help her before she was flown out by paramedics.

“Just the basics, don’t move, just be still, watch your breathing that’s the first things you want to do,” Salwin said.

The warmer weather is bringing snakes out of hibernation, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife said city and county parks and open spaces in the Pikes Peak Region are perfect habitats for snakes.

“People need to be aware of their surroundings,” Colorado Parks and Wildlife District Wildlife Manager, Cody Wigner said.

Wigner said knowing where snakes like to be is key, and to back away if you spot one.

“In a lot of these popular hiking areas in Colorado Springs, lots of tall grasses, lots of rock outcroppings,” Wigner said. “They just need to give that snake the distance whether venomous or not.”

Lt. Marvin Adams with the Colorado Springs Fire Department responded to the bite Monday and another one on Saturday at Garden of the Gods.

“More likely than not a rattlesnake,” Adams said.

Adams said if someone gets bit by a snake to call 911 immediately, to not move much, keep the wound below the heart, and to stay calm so venom doesn’t travel faster.

“Our protocols for emergency responders is to not apply tourniquets to not apply ice. Really we want to not disturb that wound site and get them to definitive care as quickly as possible,” Adams said.