Willowdale State Forest is a terrific place to bike, run, hike or walk your dog. It’s a particularly unfortunate place to get injured or fall ill. This 10-square-kilometer forest — largely located in Ipswich — has miles and miles of various paths, wide and narrow. It can make locating, reaching and extricating a patient a real challenge for our public safety professionals.
Luckily, the Ipswich FD has plenty of practice in rescuing patients from deep within Willowdale, and was able to execute a quick and successful rescue of a patient on Monday morning.
The 911 call came in around 10:40 a.m. of a woman who suffered a knee injury while walking with a friend and their dogs, about a mile and a half deep into the Forest. The IFD’s “D” Shift — Lieutenant Pat Dingle and Firefighters Jeff Stone, Tom Rice and Jonathon Walsh — grabbed Engine 2, Squad 2 (a heavy-duty pickup truck) and Rescue 2 (A John Deere “Gator” ATV) and rushed to the scene.
Locate and Rescue operations are all about teamwork. While firefighters headed to the trail head off West Street, the Public Safety Communications talked to the patient’s friend to establish a location as well as information on the patient. Officers from the Ipswich and Topsfield PD’s scoured the entry points off East Street in search of this person, and Action Ambulance’s Medic 2 team grabbed their gear for administering to the patient.
When IFD members arrived on the scene, they deployed Rescue 2 and were able to make quick contact with the friend of the patient. A bumpy ride on the Gator followed until the patient was found and was secured to a backboard for a slow and careful ride out of the woods. The patient was transported to Beverly Hospital and we wish her a quick recovery.
When you’re exploring the woods, make sure to have a map with you, either a paper or online one. Make note of where you entered the woods, and any other entry points you may pass. And keep an eye out for numbered trail markers — they can be very valuable in helping our first responders, if we ever have to help you.