Firefighters rescue man after fall in Brannon Mountain Road area of Washington County

Search and rescue personnell assist a man who had fallen down a steep embankment Wedneday March 3, 2022 in Washington County. (Courtesy photo/GOSHEN ARKANSAS FIRE DEPARTMENT)
Search and rescue personnell assist a man who had fallen down a steep embankment Wedneday March 3, 2022 in Washington County. (Courtesy photo/GOSHEN ARKANSAS FIRE DEPARTMENT)

FAYETTEVILLE -- Firefighters and other first responders spent about three hours Wednesday night in a search-and-rescue to aid a man who had fallen down a 25-foot embankment off Brannon Mountain Road.

Chief Rick Shepherd with the Sunset Fire Department said the initial call of a 53-year-old man needing assistance came in at 6:29 p.m. He said the first two teams sent were in the area about 15 minutes later but had trouble finding the man.

"He could just give us a vague idea where he was at," Shepherd said. "We had to use the old-fashioned method of hollering and listening."

Shepherd said the man had apparently been driving on Brannon Mountain Road, east of the Hazel Valley community, when he ran out of gas. He said the man decided to try to walk to someplace he could get gasoline and fell down a 20- to 25-foot embankment.

Shepherd said the man had called for help on his cellphone after he realized he injured an ankle and was unable to walk.

The area is entirely rural, Shepherd said. The man initially fell to a place where he had no phone service, and he crawled for some distance back uphill to an area where he was able to make a phone call, Shepherd said.

"It's an area that is very, very steep," he said. "I had nine guys on our teams, and they were unable to get him all the way back up the embankment, so we called the county search and rescue team. That's their forte. They had the ropes and ATVs, and, once they got there, we were able to get him up to an area where they put him on an ATV and took him to an ambulance on the road."

Steve Harrison, with Central Emergency Medical Services, said the ambulance service took the man to an area hospital with what Harrison said were noncritical injuries.

John Luther, director of Washington County's Department of Emergency Management, said members of the county's Technical Rescue Team participated in the rescue, using a basket and ropes to lift the man up the embankment.

"It's very steep, very rugged terrain off the roadway in that area," Luther said. "The team members used rope rescue techniques to get him out of there."

Luther said the Technical Rescue Team is made up of volunteers from several departments in the county's Rural Fire Association. He said the team has specially equipped rescue trucks stationed at the Farmington Fire Department and the Round Mountain Fire Department, and both responded to Wednesday night's call.

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