A woman hiking at Vasquez Rocks Sunday was plucked to safety after she fell over a cliff and hit her head, blacking out momentarily but managing to call 911 on her cell phone when she regained consciousness.
The woman, whose identity was not disclosed, made the emergency call about 8:11 p.m. from inside the Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park, Inspector Sal Alvarado of the Los Angeles County Fire Department said.
“This was a cliff rescue from a brush area,” he said Monday.
“The California Highway Patrol relayed the call, saying she had fallen some unknown distance over the side of a cliff,” Alvarado said, noting she made the call once she was oriented.
At 8:11 p.m., several firefighting units, including rescue helicopter No. 15, were dispatched to the 10700 block of Escondido Canyon Road, between Sierra Pelona Road and Escondido Drive.
“She stated she lost consciousness and didn’t know how long it had been,” Alvarado said, noting she “probably had fallen quite a while before the call.”
When firefighters arrived at the scene at 8:25 p.m., they used the Quint — a specialized truck equipped with five firefighting features — to rescue the woman using a hoist.
The woman, who was reportedly not prepared for the hike, was taken by paramedics to a nearby hospital.
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