Firefighters rescue fall victim off Avery Point
Groton — Firefighters performed a rope rescue of a man who fell at Avery Point on Saturday.
At about 11:45 a.m., City of Groton Fire responded to a call off Avery Point from a witness who saw a man fall down a rocky area.
Firefighter Allan Van Lew was first on the scene. He said the man who fell was fishing, and a witness told him that the man tripped over fishing equipment.
The fall took place at an area where people go to fish or spend time near an observation platform overlooking the water. Van Lew said that upon arrival, he realized the man was near the water about 30 feet down from where people park and walk on the rocks Van Lew determined the situation called for a technical rope rescue.
“I went down and assessed the patient to check his injuries and his status,” Van Lew said Sunday. “It’s hard for anybody to get up and down there, and it wasn’t going to be something he could do given his condition."
Van Lew said rescuers used a litter basket system. Van Lew worked with the patient on the rocks to attach the basket, while other rescuers at the top of the embankment set up a mechanical advance rope system to haul him up to the ground level and an awaiting ambulance to take him to the hospital.
Three City of Groton firefighters, a fire captain and the fire chief were on scene to assist, as well as an ambulance crew, Lawrence + Memorial Hospital paramedics and a UConn Avery Point police officer.
Van Lew said firefighters stayed up top to operate the rope system while he and an EMT worked to get the man into the rescue basket. He was then lifted to safety.
“A lot of people climb up and down those rocks to go fish, and it’s not very easy, but it’s not too difficult either,” Van Lew said. “When you’re incapacitated like he was, it was safer for us to move him up in the basket to make sure no further harm came to him while being evacuated.”
The man did not seem seriously injured, Van Lew said, though he may have been knocked unconscious temporarily from the fall. The man was eventually transported for medical treatment.
Bringing out the rope system for a rescue is a rare occurrence, Van Lew said. Still, firefighters train for the possibility and have the equipment to undertake such an operation.
Van Lew said it was a busy day at the Avery Point area, noting that a group of about 20 kayakers paddled by during the rescue.