FAYETTE COUNTY, WV (LOOTPRESS) – Emergency crews conducted a technical rope rescue after a woman fell approximately 30 feet from the Fern Creek Trail on July 25.
According to the Ansted Fire Department, the Fayette County Vertical Rescue Team was dispatched to assist with the rescue of an approximately 24-year-old woman who was reported to be conscious but suffering from shoulder and rib pain, along with a head laceration.
Rescue personnel gathered information from witnesses before deploying with a rescue litter, medical equipment, rope rescue systems and patient packaging equipment. Crews learned the woman was located about one-quarter mile upriver from the trail at the base of a steep cliff.
Rescuers established voice contact with the woman from the top of the cliff while three members of the Fayette County Vertical Rescue Team and two National Park Service rangers accessed her by trail. A two-rope lowering system with independent main and belay lines was constructed to safely lower rescuers and equipment approximately 170 feet to the patient’s location.
Once they reached the woman, rescuers performed a trauma assessment, evaluated and splinted her injuries, began treatment and stabilized her using a vacuum splint. She was then secured inside a rescue litter and carried across difficult terrain to the rope system for extraction.
During the vertical rescue, a member of the Fayette County Vertical Rescue Team remained with the patient throughout the raise operation, providing continuous medical care and monitoring her condition. Above the cliff, other team members operated a 4:1 mechanical advantage hauling system, completing multiple resets because of the distance and elevation involved.
After reaching the top of the cliff, the woman was carried to the Fern Creek parking area, where she was loaded into a waiting Jan-Care Ambulance and transported to Summersville Regional Medical Center for further evaluation and treatment.
The fire department said Fayetteville Fire Department members Dennis Miliam, Josh Davis and Ben Woodson, along with National Park Service personnel Matt McQueen, Kathy Zerkle and Joseph Cornett, and Ansted Fire Department Paramedic Tracey Gray, initiated treatment at the base of the fall and carried the patient to the rope system.
Officials said the rescue required coordination between the Fayette County Vertical Rescue Team, National Park Service personnel, Jan-Care Ambulance and other supporting agencies. The woman was safely removed from the otherwise inaccessible location through coordinated technical rope rescue operations and medical care.
