Feb. 19--HAMDEN -- Thousands visit Sleeping Giant State Park annually without getting hurt, but when something does happen, firefighters trained in mountain rescue are there to help.
The Hamden Fire Department Mountain Rescue Team was there Feb. 5, when 18-year-old Tobias Engel of Hamden slipped and fell 200 feet from the chin area of the tower trail, later dying from his injuries.
Officers from the Sleeping Giant Park Assocation tried to retrace Engel's steps recently to figure out what could have gone wrong, and the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, which oversees the park, still has no answers.
"It's so easy to misstep. You can step on a rock or trip over a root without thinking," said Julie Hulten, the association's community outreach coordinator.
In the last decade, there have been three fatalities at the Giant, one of which was a suicide, said Chuck Schall, association president. "There have been injuries and a lot of rescues of rock climbers that get stuck and the Fire Department has to get them down."
In the last five years, DEEP recorded six reported injuries, three rescues from the cliff face and quarry wall and 16 lost people at the park.
It's a small number compared to what could take place, given that 100,000 people visit annually, said Schall.
In April 2010, a Southern Connecticut State University student suffered a critical head injury when he fell about 20 feet, and Matthew Roche, 19, from Bristol, died from an early afternoon fall along the blue trail at the base of the stone tower in June 2010. In September 2010, a 23-year-old novice climber from Greenwich fell 20 feet and was hurt.
In April 2011, two teenage boys tried to climb the quarry about 100 feet up and were rescued in a three-hour operation. In March 2011, firefighters rescued a man in his 20s who hurt his ankle when he was walking along a trail.
Environmental Conservation police are still investigating the circumstances behind Engel's death, according to Tom Tyler, director of state parks for DEEP. Asked if the DEEP is considering safety improvements, Tyler said the results of the investigation will be reviewed. "We will consider making changes, if appropriate," Tyler said.
At Sleeping Giant and other state parks, "If hikers stay on marked trails, you're not dangerously close to the edge of a drop off, but we know some visitors will incur some risk, taking informal paths to maximize their view or look over the edge," said Tyler, and that's when accidents can happen.
Schall said he's "just devastated" by Engel's death and feels for his family.
Members of the park association are always concerned about park safety, but Schall and Hulten say adding fencing to the edges of trails would not be a deterrent. They say that would cause people to step over the fencing into harm's way.
"When the trails were installed, they intentionally moved them back from the edge of the cliffs," said Schall. "The guys who created them were very conscious of the fact that it was a dangerous area, so there was no need to go close to the cliff's edge."
The trails were created in the 1950s and '60s by Norman Greist and Richard Elliott. According to Hulten, many of the trails historically were carriage roads for people who vacationed at the Giant.
People should know that things could get risky without the proper equipment, tools and training, they said.
"On the back of the head, the stone is unsafe because of the quarrying operation" that stopped in 1934, Hulten said.
However, they will talk about perhaps better signage as a way to remind people to stay on trails when they're hiking.
The park, Hulten says, is a rugged place, "the last bastion of wilderness in New Haven County."
The park had its own search and rescue team about 20 years ago, but now the Fire Department's Mountain Rescue Team responds, along with local police and state EnCon officers.
Often, however, the Hamden Fire Department responds because of medical calls to the Giant, such as bee stings, chest pains and anaphylactic shock, and cuts and other minor injuries, Fire Chief David A. Berardesca said.
Sleeping Giant is a beautiful mountain and a beautiful park, "so long as people use common sense and safety precautions."
For example, people who are prone to allergic reactions should have medicines with them. They also should bring hike with another person and bring charged cell phones so in the event of an emergency, the injured or lost person can talk to firefighters or firefighters can get a GPS signal and locate the person.
According to Berardesca, about 20 firefighters usually respond to a mountain rescue, especially when they're on a cliff or rocky edge.
"The cliff at the quarry is about 300 feet, and people get in a situation where they shouldn't be, and now our people have to go up to the top and bring equipment to higher points and rappel down," he said.
If the person is injured and has to be immobilized in a basket, then it adds another layer of difficulty to the rescue, the chief said. The person is lowered to other firefighters and medical personnel who are lower down on the mountain. And while that is taking place, rescuers are at risk of getting hit by rocks that loosen. The chief remembers a couple of times when rescuers have been hit by rocks and have to be treated.
If people use common sense, stay on marked trails, wear good hiking shoes or sneakers and long pants and sleeves to protect against ticks, "you should have an enjoyable and safe time," Berardesca said. "It's the people who wander off to areas they shouldn't be who are typically the people who we have to rescue."
According to Co. 1 Capt. Ed Evers, the amount of times mountain rescue responds depends on park usage, which is up in the nice weather.
"We train for all different scenarios. Most common is when someone begins to climb a cliff face and can't climb any more or doesn't have the proper equipment, when they're stuck and uninjured and need help. Less common is when someone falls from a high point," Evers said.
Firefighter Nelson Hwang has been on calls when the injuries are extensive. Those calls "are very labor intensive. You have to carry all this," he said, pointing to bags of ropes, harnesses and other equipment.
Firefighters train at the mountain about twice a month. It is incorporated in the training that firefighters have for all kinds of responses, including water rescues and medical responses.
"Everyone is cross-trained. Any shift member can perform a rescue," Berardesca said.
Firefighter Dan Such said Fire Department vehicles, even an ATV, can't access parts of the Giant and "a lot of (the equipment) is hiked up by us."
Rescues can sometimes take hours because of the time it takes to get to the person, get them stable in a stokes basket and use ropes to lower the person. Firefighters could go as high as 600 feet to rescue someone.
"It doesn't look anywhere near as high as it is," said Evers.
Call Ann DeMatteo at 203-789-5716. Follow her on Twitter @AnnDDematteo.
Copyright 2012 - New Haven Register, Conn.
