Healdsburg Firefighters, with the help of the CHP H30 Helicopter crew and other emergency responders, rescued a 50-year-old man from a steep embankment off of South Fitch Mountain Road Wednesday afternoon.
The “high angle rescue” occurred after firefighters received a call of a fall victim at 12:52 p.m. First responders found that the man had fallen down a steep embankment off of Madrone Avenue on the south side of the mountain and that he was suffering from significant lower back injuries.
Healdsburg Fire Marshal Linda Collister said the man was on his own property when he fell. The call originally came in as a medical aid, but when firefighters arrived, they found that he was halfway down a cliff, and called in additional rescue resources.
“They went down and met with him and realized they couldn’t get him up,” said Collister. “They had to dig into the side of the hill to make a level spot.”
Firefighters immobilized the man on a backboard and placed him in a basket that was brought up to the helicopter. He was transported to Memorial Hospital and then on to Stanford where he was undergoing surgery on Thursday.
Firefighers from Cal Fire, Geyserville, Cloverdale, Sonoma County Fire Services and crews from Bell’s Ambulance and the CHP helicopter assisted in the rescue.
