After a man fell more than 30 feet from the side of the rock quarry at Greenway Farms and the Chattanooga Fire Department set up a pulley system to hoist him up, the department is urging caution at the location.
“With any rope rescue, it’s very manpower-intensive,” Assistant Chief of Special Operations Terry Knowles said in an interview.
Five fire crews, including two squad crews equipped to handle technical rescues, responded to the situation Tuesday evening. The man who fell survived but has a “multitude of injuries,” according to a press release from the fire department.
Rope rescues require the firefighters and rescue personnel to set up rope systems to get rescuers down the bluff to assess the patient’s condition, secure them and then haul the patient and crew members back up the bluff, Knowles said.
Chattanooga Fire performs rope rescue on bluff at Greenway Farms, warns of danger
“If it’s two normal-size people, you’re looking at 400 pounds back up the side of a cliff,” Knowles said.
(READ MORE: Man rescued after falling off bluff at Greenway Farms in Hixson)
At the rock quarry, half the battle is getting the crews out to the location.
“If it’s half a mile in, you’ve got probably 15 firemen that are hiking their way in just to get to where they hopefully can see the patient,” Knowles said.
There have been five rope rescues at the quarry in the past five years, Knowles said, enough to cause the department to hold rope rescue training at the site at least once a year.
“As many times as we’ve been out there,” Knowles said, “we want the guys to be as familiar as possible.”
Due to the volume of this type of rescue, the department is urging the public to use caution and follow rules.
“Stay on the trails. Don’t wander off the trails. Don’t get too close to the edge,” Knowles said. “Just all safety concerns and safety emphasis that we would like the public to hear from us because, you know, we don’t want anybody to fall in.”
Lindsey Rogers, spokesperson for the department, strongly warned against being in the area while intoxicated because of the proximity to high bluffs.
“We know a lot of people, a lot of groups of friends like to go out there and hang out and drink, and it just adds to the dangers,” Rogers said.
Greenway Farms is a Chattanooga park, and city code prohibits alcohol in parks and playgrounds without approval from the administrator of the Department of Public Works.
As the weather warms up and more people populate the area, more caution is urged, Knowles said.
“We’ll have more and more people out there, which is great,” Knowles said. “It’s a recreation area, that’s why we want them to enjoy it, but we also want it to be safe.”
Contact Kailee Shores at kshores@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6659.