CA Crews Rescue Man Wedged Between Rocks on Cliff

Firefighters Monday rescued an 87-year-old Healdsburg man who suffered serious head injuries after falling into a dry creek bed and becoming wedged between large rocks.

The man had been working on his remote property on Leslie Road, in the hills above Windsor, when he somehow fell about 25 feet and became stuck, face down, said Mike Elson, Acting Battalion Chief for Central Fire.

Robert Jones had been out on the property for some time, cutting up a fallen tree branch, said his son, Rollie Jones. “Apparently something slipped on him.”

The younger Jones found his father after a search when the man didn’t return home when expected. The son called for help at about 4:45 p.m.

Windsor and Rincon Valley firefighters responded and got the man freed from the rocks. He was secured to a back board and a group of 12, including Bell’s Ambulance paramedics and a neighbor, worked a laborious ropes rescue, hauling the man up to ground level, Elson said.

Jones was taken by ambulance to an awaiting CHP helicopter and then flown to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. He was listed in serious condition in intensive care as of Tuesday morning, according to a hospital official.

Rescues of people down cliffs and into ravines involving ropes are common along the coast and the county’s hilliest areas. It’s not so common in Windsor’s fire district, which mostly encompasses flat land, said Elson, who estimated the rescue took about 35 minutes.

It involved using a tree as an anchor for the ropes and some helping steady the man on the board while others pulled him up, Rollie Jones said.

“It was a very well-coordinated event with a good outcome,” Elson said.

You can reach Staff Writer Randi Rossmann at 521-5412 or [email protected]. On Twitter@rossmannreport.

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