If you’re planning a hiking weekend away from Los Angeles in the Palm Springs area, watch out for rattlesnakes.
That’s the warning from fire officials in the Coachella Valley after two people were bitten in different areas of Riverside County. Both of them were expected to survive after emergency treatment.
The mercury was expected to climb to 102 in the desert Thursday, and as temperatures rise, so will the chances of encountering snakes in both rural and urban county areas.
The Riverside County Fire Department issued a list of snake safety tips on its various social media platforms, with measures that can be taken to avoid startling a snake, prompting an attack or avoiding serious injury if a snake is encountered.
The tips include never going barefoot or wearing sandals while hiking through wild areas, avoiding tall grass and brush if possible, not grabbing objects out of lakes and rivers where rattlesnakes may be swimming, and never hiking alone.
Residents were even warned to be wary of dead snakes, as they can still inject venom.
Two women sustained rattlesnake bites on Wednesday.
The first bite occurred at 9:47 a.m. on the Skyline Trail in Tahquitz Falls, several miles up the trail in the unincorporated county area west of Palm Springs. A woman who was bitten in a leg was airlifted out of the mountains by a sheriff’s department helicopter crew and taken to a hospital with moderate injuries.
Later in the afternoon, a woman in Garner Valley, within the San Bernardino National Forest, was bitten by a rattlesnake on a dirt road. She was taken to a hospital with non life-threatening injuries, according to firefighters.
Both victims were expected to recover after emergency treatment, but fire officials did not have further details of their conditions.
— Staff and wire reports