LOGAN COUNTY, Ohio — First responders used their specialized training to rescue an injured man from a creek nearly 200 feet down a gorge Tuesday morning.
Firefighters and medics from the Tri-Valley Fire District and the City of Bellefontaine responded just before 10 a.m. to the Kirkmont Center, located at 6946 County Road 10, just east of Zanesfield in Jefferson Township.
A middle-aged man had been hiking with others along the creek in the center's densely wooded trail area when he injured his leg and was unable to make it out on his own.
Crews made their way down to the man and began treating his injuries, but because of his location — nearly 200 feet down a steep gorge in a creek, and several hundred yards away from the closest first responders could get with their utility terrain vehicles — it was not feasible to carry him out.
About an hour after the first 911 call was made, and additional manpower and equipment arrived, a technical rescue operation involving ropes, pulleys, UTVs, and a Stokes basket — a durable, metal-mesh or plastic stretcher with sides used by emergency personnel to lift or move patients in technical rescue scenarios — was initiated.
Using both high and low-angle rescue techniques, the man was extricated from the gorge about 90 minutes after the operation began. Medics transported the man to Mary Rutan Hospital in Bellefontaine for further treatment. Other than the leg injury, he was believed to be okay, according to fire officials.
According to its website, the Kirkmont Center comprises 278 acres, nestled among gently rolling hills and pine groves. The site boasts a natural fen, two ponds, cliffs, and natural ravines, and is classified by naturalists as one of the most unique parcels of land in the State of Ohio.
