A late morning hike took a harrowing turn on December 5 after a 61-year-old male fell and reportedly broke a leg while hiking in the Lower Paugussett State Forest.

Firefighters from Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue (SHVFR) and Newtown Hook & Ladder, along with crews from Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps and Newtown Underwater Search And Rescue (NUSAR) were all dispatched to the call around 11 am that Sunday.

SHVFR Second Assistant Chief Andy Ryan was the incident commander.

Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection also responded to the call for help within the state forest.

Responders were initially told that the hiker was approximately one-quarter of a mile into the woods on the Blue Trail. The trail head is at the northern end of Great Quarter Road, 1.25 miles from that road’s intersection with Berkshire Road.

The hiker was with three friends that morning. Dispatchers were told the group could see the beach of Jackson Cove Town Park in Oxford, on the far side of Lake Zoar, from their location.

Ryan set up command, he told The Newtown Bee, near the cul-de-sac of Great Quarter Road. Sandy Hook firefighters responded to his location.

Ryan had NUSAR and Hook & Ladder — which also includes a boat among its response vehicles — staged at the boat launch at Eichler’s Cove, the Town-owned property on Lake Zoar approximately one mile south of the rescue command post.

“We knew they would launch from there if needed, and that was where they would take the patient,” he said.

The ambulance was also sent to Eichler’s.

Rescuers went north on the Blue Trail from their starting location. They found the patient nearly a mile into the woods, according to Ryan.

“They were about 50 feet from the water once they made contact with the patient,” Ryan said. Hook & Ladder’s boat was first to arrive at the patient’s location. Once the patient was in the boat, first responders made the approximately 1.5-mile trip to Eichler’s Cove, where the ambulance was waiting to transport the man to a hospital for further medical care.

Firefighters and the other hikers were also transported by boats to Eichler’s Cove, Ryan said, “rather than having them walk another mile back through the woods.”

“I called for NUSAR and Hook & Ladder due to the number of rescuers we had deep in the woods that needed transport back to the boat launch,” he said.

Sandy Hook apparatus had already relocated to Eichler’s Cove, he said, to pick up those who were arriving by boat.

The rescue operation lasted approximately 90 minutes. No additional information about the injured hiker was available.

All departments, Ryan noted, “worked very well together despite some challenges with radio issues in that area.”

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Associate Editor Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.