SANDY HOOK, CT - A midmorning, late winter walk with her two dogs ended in a dangerous fall for an unidentified Sandy Hook, Connecticut resident. Rescuers from the "Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue Company" responded and found the injured woman at the bottom of an extremely steep and muddy embankment adjacent to Gelding Hill Road. The woman is believed to have been down for almost an hour in the cold air and mud before a neighbor heard calls for help. Cold, but conscious and alert, Sandy Hook First Responders discovered the victim was suffering from an ankle injury sustained during the fall.

Upon arrival, Sandy Hook's Fire Chief, Bill Halstead, immediately called for "Forest Rescue Unit 446" -- a 2006 Ingersol Rand - Club Car XRT off-road 4X4 rescue vehicle equipped with an All Terrain Res-Q Trailer. Unit 446 is a diesel powered off-road utility vehicle equipped with a 2500 pound winch and the All Terrain Res-Q patient transport trailer. This scene was perfectly suited for the specialized off-road rescue equipment. Before the operation was complete, Sandy Hook's members would learn just how well suited!

Assisted by personnel from the Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps, the injured woman received 'professional emergency medical care' at the scene. Once packaged in a litter and secured safely on the All Terrain Res-Q Trailer, the patient was monitored by Sandy Hook VFC's EMS personnel riding with her all the way to the top of the hill on the trailer's medical attendant's seat.

As wet slippery mud covered frozen ground, rescuers described conditions as "extreme." As such, the conditions required some creative thinking. So, the winch cable from Forest Rescue 446 was deployed and secured to a tree at the top of the steep hill. Remaining along side the off-road utility vehicle, Sandy Hook Volunteers combined the power of the Club Car's 719cc diesel engine with its 2500 pound winch and All Terrain Res-Q Trailer, to safely haul the injured woman up the hill to a waiting Newtown Ambulance.

In the words of Karin Halstead, Sandy Hook VFC's EMS Captain: "I really can't give an amount of time it would've taken without the UTV and rescue trailer. But, it would have been a lot longer because the ground was very slippery. Also, there would've been a greater chance for a rescuer to be injured, or the patient to be hurt if one of us fell during the carry out."

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