Members of the Smithville-DeKalb County Rescue Squad and DeKalb EMS put their training into action Monday to help an elderly woman whose automobile plunged off a steep embankment on Ford Road in the Austin Bottom Community.
“We got a call at 11:06 a.m. that a woman (Pamela Mather) had a wreck and went off the road and down a steep embankment approximately 75-100 feet,” said Joe Johnson, member of the Smithville-DeKalb County Rescue Squad.
“She got off the edge, backed up and went off backwards, hit a tree and spun around. She went almost straight off the embankment. It was so steep you could not walk up or down it,” Johnson continued.
“When we got there, DeKalb EMS had her out of the vehicle and she was sitting on the ground beside it. The vehicle was on its wheels sitting on an incline and someone had chained it to a tree to keep it from turning on over,” said Johnson.
“She wasn’t badly injured but she was elderly and could not walk back up the hill under her own power. The incline was so steep we had to use ropes, winch, and a stokes basket. We placed her in the basket and brought her up to the road. We had about 12 rescue squad members and three trucks over there. It was a very successful rescue and our rope training from about two weeks ago was very helpful in handling this particular incident,” Johnson said.
The crash was investigated by the Tennessee Highway Patrol. A county deputy was also on the scene.
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