Injured Woman Rescued Amid Slippery, Steep Terrain

By Andrew Gorosko

While walking her dogs late Wednesday morning, a middle-aged woman stumbled and then fell to the ground, lying injured amid some very slippery terrain off Gelding Hill Road in Sandy Hook.

Unable to walk due to her injured ankle, the unidentified woman called out for help. A nearby resident heard her shouts and then summoned authorities who responded to the scene, which lies at base of a very steep hill situated between Gelding Hill Road and Bennetts Bridge Road.

Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue Company members, as well and Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps members, responded to the accident, which was reported at about 11 am.

When she was found, the woman was conscious and alert, said Sandy Hook Fire Chief Bill Halstead.

Chief Halstead called in the fire company’s all-terrain vehicle (ATV), which is used for rescues in areas inaccessible to conventional fire trucks. The ATV tows a trailer upon which a patient is placed for transport.

The rescuers encountered an extremely steep and slippery slope leading down to the accident scene from Gelding Hill Road. A layer of very wet mud sat atop the frozen ground, making for very slick conditions.

At one point, the mud was so difficult to traverse, that firefighters attached the ATV’s winch line to a tree so that the vehicle could pull itself out of the mud.

With a firefighter’s coat placed atop her to keep her warm, the volunteers walked alongside the ATV as it rolled through the mud and up the steep hill toward an ambulance waiting on Gelding Hill Road. 

Ambulance staffers transported the woman to Danbury Hospital to be treated for her injury, Chief Halstead said.