A woman injured Wednesday in a fall down a waterfall in northeastern Habersham County is now recovering in the hospital.
Friends say the woman, whose name has not publicly been released, suffered a broken nose, crushed vertebrae in her lower back, and a broken ankle.
First responders rescued her after she plunged somewhere between 40 to 60 feet from the top of Filmy Fern Falls. The woman landed in a pool of water just under the falls, according to Habersham County Emergency Services Director Chad Black.
The incident happened just after 1 p.m. in the area of Pumping Station Road and Davidson Cove near the Stephens County line. Someone at the scene used a cellphone to call 911.
Personnel from Habersham County Emergency Services and Lee Arrendale responded to the call and requested mutual aid from Stephens County EMS. Rescuers located the injured woman at the base of the falls.
Crews used a stokes basket and rope system to pull the woman approximately 40 feet straight up to the road. EMTs then took her by ambulance to a nearby landing zone where Air Life 2 picked her up and transported her to the trauma center at Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville.
This is the third wilderness rescue Habersham County emergency crews have responded to in the past two weeks where crews had to treat and extricate the patient under very difficult conditions and temperatures. This past Monday, June 29, a man fell from the trail at Panther Creek Falls and had to be carried two miles out of the woods on a stretcher.
“These type calls are only successful due to the relationships with other departments and agencies, and we are certainly grateful for those long-standing relationships,” Black says.
