SEQUIM — Rescue crews performed a technical rescue down the bluffs and along the shoreline west of Sequim to help an injured woman.
Battalion Chief Chris Turner of Clallam County Fire District 3 said Tuesday a 65-year-old woman broke her ankle while looking for her dog after it had fallen off the bluff the previous night in the 100 block of Sea Bluff Lane near Monterra Drive.
The dog did not survive the fall, he said.
Turner said the woman hiked along the beach looking for her dog and she fell from about 10 feet up on the bluff. The woman had been lying on the ground for several hours and was showing signs of shock, he said.
Multiple career and volunteer firefighters responded about 8:34 a.m. Tuesday and contacted the woman within 10 minutes of arriving on scene.
Clallam 2 Fire-Rescue was requested to provide additional rope rescue technicians, and crews anchored a life safety rope system from a neighboring home’s property and rappelled about 160 feet down to the woman.
Fire District 3 also deployed the department’s Utility Task Vehicle from Green Point and drove about 3 miles along the beach.
Turner said rescue crews splinted the woman’s ankle, provided warming blankets and extricated her from the beach with the UTV to Olympic Ambulance staff. She was transported to Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles.
Fire crew on the UTV returned to transport the woman’s husband, rescuers and the deceased dog.
Turner said firefighters often train for complex rescue incidents such as this.
Firefighters rappelled down bluffs north of Sequim and drove the district’s utility task vehicle from Green Point to help a woman who was hurt while looking for her dog. (Clallam County Fire District 3)
