Chester Fire rescues man from woods off Chase Brook

By Shawn Cunningham
©2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC

Tuesday may have been a holiday for most of us, but for a man who had fallen into Chase Brook, it was a good thing that Chester’s Fire Department was working.

Just before 3:30 p.m., firefighters were dispatched to 982 Chase Brook Road. The caller said a man was in the water, breathing but not conscious. By 3:50 p.m., the Fire Department had arrived but discovered that the man was several hundred yards back in the woods, according to a press release.

Chester’s ambulance was out on a previous call, so Springfield sent one of its ambulances and the first responders trekked back into the woods where they found the man conscious and alert but needing medical care that was administered by Springfield paramedics. The terrain made bringing the patient out of the woods challenging with a “high angle rope rescue” the chosen method. The department’s members train for these types of “technical’ rescues.

Once the patient was secured on a litter, firefighters used a rope system to raise him and two attendants 30 feet at a high angle, then 100 more at a low angle. Once out of the woods, the patient was loaded onto the Fire Department’s ATV/trailer to move him to the ambulance. The man was on his way to Springfield Hospital by 4:30 p.m.

The press release notes that the equipment and training that made the rescue possible was due in part to contributions made to the Yosemite Engine Company, which raises funds to enhance the work of the Fire Department.