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Team effort led to positive outcome following Fern Cliff fall
As if reaching a man who had fallen from a cliff Friday at Fern Cliff Nature Preserve weren’t enough, emergency responders then had to find a way to get him out safely.
The Madison Township fire chief, who was also the first person to reach the injured man, credits teamwork among various agencies, dispatchers and even neighbors for a successful rescue effort.
Chief Lee Price called the Friday afternoon dispatch “one of the more complicated runs of my career.”
The man, who had been repelling down a cliff at the nature preserve off of County Road 375 South in Madison Township, suffered a fall that he estimated to Putnam County Dispatch to have been 50 feet. He first called his wife, who in turn called 911.
Dispatch then made direct phone contact with the man, who has not been officially identified, and dispatched Madison Township Fire Department, Putnam County EMS and the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office to the scene.
Price arrived just before 2 p.m., followed soon after by EMS Deputy Chief Anthony Taylor. Traveling about 50 yards apart from one another, the two men first faced a moderate hike just to reach the location from which the man had been repelling. Then they had to find a way safely to the bottom.
“By the time we got to him, I guarantee we had walked three quarters of a mile,” Price said. “Going down the ravine was the biggest obstacle. The big thing was finding a way down. Where he had fallen was the edge of a cliff area. It was a half-U shape. You had to find a way down without falling.”
At one point, Price met with a dead end, making it part way down before finding another cliff and then looking for a different path.
Along the way, Dispatch had been in constant contact with the victim, who tried to provide an approximate location. Based on “pings” on the man’s phone, the dispatcher was able to provide his exact latitude and longitude coordinates, which showed a location very near the back of the preserve, near Snake Creek.
As Price was making his way down, Taylor began communicating with the victim and learning more about his condition by yelling from the top of the hill.
Price arrived, and Taylor a couple of minutes later, to find the man badly injured and with a smashed phone that made it surprising he’d been able to make a call. They could mainly tell he had multiple broken bones and that they had to get him out of a tight area.
“When we got to him, he was talking,” Price said. “He was able to give us some kind of idea of what was going on with him.”
Taylor set to work caring for the patient while Price tried to figure out the best way to get him out of the ravine and the preserve.
This involved calling for other agencies. Greencastle Fire Department was called for manpower, with Price noting that volunteer departments struggle for manpower during the work day. Roachdale Fire Department was called for its utility terrain vehicle (side-by-side) as a way to help transport the man out. Price also called on Bellmore Fire Department in Parke County for its high-angle rescue team and equipment.
Greencastle was called for even more manpower, with Cloverdale Township, in turn, covering its station.
Meanwhile, a Putnam County EMS ambulance was waiting, as well as an AirEvac helicopter out of Brazil.
What the team, which also included law officers from the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office and the Department of Natural Resources, found was that the location was so far back in the preserve that it was better to exit a different way. The creek was nearby to the north, and beyond it, flatter terrain and a clearing that contained a residence.
“The dispatch was to 6488 W. CR 375 South, and we brought the UTV from County Road 350 South,” Price said. “We walked in from one county road and brought a bunch of equipment in from another county road.”
“If we had to carry him out of there, it was going to be a major struggle,” Price said. “If we’d have had to carry him out of there, I’m going to bet we would’ve called for more departments just to get him up the hill and carry him back to the road.”
As it was, the job at hand was no walk in the park.
“He was in a very tight area,” Price said. “It took four of us to get him out of the area he was laying in, and then about 10 of us to get him to the UTV.”
The challenges they faced were a swampy terrain — in spite of recent drought conditions — studded with rocks and downed trees.
“You would’ve thought it had rained a lot recently,” Price said. “If it would’ve rained a lot, it would have made that situation much tougher.”
They then had to carry the victim across the creek, a task the drought made less challenging than it might otherwise be, to get to the sandbar on the other side where the UTV was parked.
From there it was on to a waiting ambulance, which took the victim back around to just west of the preserve entrance, where a resident, Kayla McDermit, had volunteered her field as a landing spot.
“They deserve credit for letting us use an area in their field,” Price said.
“I can’t stress enough how well this county and Bellmore from Parke County came together,” Price continued. “It’s one of the more complicated runs of my career, and it came together without a hiccup. I can’t see how it could have gone any better.
This even included Madison Township residents who, in addition to volunteering their property, gave directions to departments unfamiliar with the area and offered water to responders.
The victim was out of the woods by 3:30 p.m. and on his way to an Indianapolis hospital a short time later.
While the man’s identity has been discussed in the community in the time since the fall, it has not been formally confirmed by the Banner Graphic. However, Price did tell the newspaper that the man’s daughter had shared a Facebook post noting he had surgery on his back on Friday, followed by a scheduled surgery on his leg Saturday.
Price is especially proud of how local responders pulled together in a challenging situation.
“One of the biggest things out of that whole incident is how well everything came together,” he said. “After it was over, I pulled everyone together and told them how well we did. You’d have thought we trained 100 times a year for that situation. Everybody went to a place to do a job and got it done.”
His sentiment was echoed in a Facebook post shared by AirEvac Lifeteam 39.
“Today was one of hard work and collaboration among many for a positive outcome. Thank you Putnam County EMS for the scene flight call this afternoon,” the post stated. “Great patient care in a difficult situation. Also thank you to all of the police, fire, first responders from multiple agencies and neighbors of the scene for all your hard work and helping hands. It’s a beautiful thing seeing so many good people come together to help someone in need. Without the efforts of everyone this situation could have turned out much differently.”