Late on December 5th, Peardale-Chicago Park and Ophir Hill Fire Departments were dispatched for an individual who had fallen into an abandoned mine shaft while searching for a lost dog in the area of a Lower Colfax Road and Agony Hill Road.
Due to the need for a very technical rescue operation, assistance was requested from Grass Valley and Nevada County Consolidated Fire departments.
Firefighters found the patient approximately 30 feet down a vertical mine shaft on a ledge. The patient was able to talk to rescuers but had a leg injury making it necessary to send a rescuer into the shaft as well.
A confined space technical rescue of this nature requires agencies to follow strict OSHA guidelines to ensure rescuers don’t become additional victims.
Air monitoring was put in place and a rope system was deployed to reach the patient and then safely lift him out of the shaft. By early Saturday morning he was able to be transported by Sierra Nevada Ambulance to a local trauma center.
The operation which involved 17 rescuers comes right on the heels of “rescue week” where Western Nevada County Fire agencies come together and train for just this type of incident.