What will perhaps be the luckiest day of Alan Lindstrum’s life started with a heart attack.

It only got better from there.

Lindstrum had been hiking in the Grand Forest earlier this month with the Bainbridge Striders walking group when he suddenly went into cardiac arrest. Not being in the proximity of any markers, the walkers were unsure of exactly which trail they were on, and they initially specified the wrong path entrance to the 911 operator. While trying to getter a better read on their real position, two members of the group came upon Parks Department employee Travis Lande who was out doing some routine trail maintenance.

Luckily for them — and Lindstrum — Lande is also a volunteer firefighter.

“I happened across a guy waving at me asking where we were at,” Lande remembered. “He said someone had tripped and fell, and that’s all I really got so I figured I’d walk down, see what’s going on and make sure everything’s OK.”

Lindstrum’s luck, it would seem, was holding strong that day because by the time Lande got to the scene, two of his fellow walkers, having realized he didn’t just trip and fall, had already started CPR.

Lande joined in the life-saving efforts while the responders from the Bainbridge Island Fire Department hiked in to the group, lugging all of their gear and equipment along the trail.

“They were definitely doing a great job of CPR,” Lande said of the quick-thinking Striders. “When I showed up, they had him down pushing on his chest, he was very kind of in-and-out of being coherent. We held up, took a look at him. He took a couple of breathes and stopped again. [We] went right back in and started CPR and just kept going and it turned out great.”

It was quickly apparent to the responders that Lindstrum needed to be airlifted to a hospital, but the group was in the woods and a long way from the helicopter landing spot at Station 21 on Madison Avenue.

Again, Lindstrum lucked out.

The firefighters were able to guide the emergency helicopter to a nearby field and load him safely aboard there.

All told, 17 responders, including the helicopter crew and paramedics, rushed to the scene — some of them technically off-duty — to help save Lindstrum’s life.

Today, Lindstrum is alive, well and out walking again. He and the rest of the Striders recently paid a visit to Station 23 to personally thank the firefighters — and get a refresher course in CPR.

The fire department holds free monthly CPR classes for anyone interested, and often arranges special group instruction sessions for a small fee.

“The Bainbridge Island Fire Department has trained more than 200 people in CPR this year,” Assistant Chief Luke Carpenter said to the gathered Striders. “Classes like this are the first link in the chain of survival.”

According to the class instructors, the Pacific Northwest has the highest rate of cardiac arrest survivors in the entire country. This is due primarily to the number of people trained in classes like those offered by the Bainbridge department, and who are able to perform immediate and correct CPR. Bainbridge Island has a 50 to 60 percent survival rate, which is vastly superior to the county’s percentage as a whole.

According to Carpenter, the more, better-quality compressions that are performed — and the faster the process is begun — the better a person’s chance of survival.

Most people, he said, if they have occasion to perform CPR, will need to do so on a friend or family member.

Lindstrum, making jokes with the firefighters before the start of class, said luck may have played a part but that his thanks went to his fellow walkers and the responding firefighters.

“I want to express my heartfelt thanks to all of you,” he said.

“It’s a great pleasure to get to meet more of you,” Lindstrum added upon meeting the men who responded to the incident, of which he said he has practically no memory.

“I’m sorry you had to haul all that gear through the woodland trail,” he laughed.

Carpenter quickly assured him that no apology, even a humorous one, was necessary. He further explained that Lindstrum’s visit was a great and unique experience for firefighters, who so rarely have the time or opportunity to follow up with those who have been their patients.

“We move on to the next call, that’s our job,” Carpenter said. “So this is a nice occasion for us, when someone comes back and we can look at you and say, ‘The last time we saw you, you were horizontal. You look a whole lot better!’”

Carpenter said that basic CPR training is something that everyone should seriously consider, as it’s life-saving effectiveness had been undeniably proven.

“That’s a unique opportunity and it’s not something too many people get to do in this day and age,” he told the class about the experience of playing a part in saving another person’s life. “So, to those of you who worked on Al — which is our phrase — congratulations. That’s a wonderful thing and I hope you understand that.”