An injured hiker who fell 30 feet down a hillside near Brook Nature Park being loaded into the ambulance bound for Dixie Regional Medical Center. Rescues used a rope team to get the hiker down the hill and to safety, St. George, Utah, Feb. 8, 2014 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News

ST. GEORGE – Emergency personnel responded to a report of a hiker who fell down the hillside near Brooks Nature Park in St. George Saturday evening.

An adult man was hiking in the area above the water tower near Brooks Nature Park at 453 Main St. when he somehow lost his footing and fell 30 feet down the hillside, St. George Fire Capt. David Slack said. The St. George Fire Department and other agencies were dispatched to the scene and made contact with the hiker between 5:30 and 6 p.m.

Melea Quiroz, a friend of the hiker, said she had been waiting for him at his home nearby but he didn’t return when expected. She said she knew he was hiking in the area but was unaware there had been an accident. Quiroz and the hiker’s brother went to Brooks Nature Park and called his phone which was answered by an emergency responder. The responder confirmed there had been an accident and that other responders were with the hiker, Quiroz said.

The terrain where the hiker fell was steep, with loose dirt and rock, Slack said, and it was decided they would take the hiker down the hillside via rope line. “We thought it’d be safer to get a rope team set up,” he said.

“It takes quite a bit to get everything set up before we get to the patient,” Slack said. “We did get medical on scene really quick so they were able to stabilize the patient, make sure he’s OK.”

As for the hiker’s condition, Slack said he was conscious and alert, though he was complaining about a previous knee injury. The hiker was transported to Dixie Regional Medical Center in St. George by ambulance.

This is the second fall the St. George Fire Department and additional agencies have responded to this week. Friday a climber scaling the Bluff Street Cracks fell and also had to be taken down off the hill by rope.

Slack said incidents like this aren’t overly common, though they do seem to happen every two-to-three months. “We’re always trying to train so we’re ready for it,” he said.

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