On June 28, 2025, at 6:33 PM, the city of Troy‘s Fire Department was dispatched to the Burden Pond Preserve for a technical rescue. The caller reported her foot got stuck between the rocks and broke her ankle and could not get out. Engine three, engine six, the rescue squad, medic three, and the battalion chief responded to the scene.

Troy police and engine three’s crew arrived on scene and made their way into the preserve where they discovered the patient in one of the treacherous areas of the preserve. Troy Police assisted the fire department by bringing out the patient’s child to the fire apparatus staged up in the graveyard and kept the child company while firefighters worked below. Firefighters from engine six and the rescue squad began to set up a low angle rescue rope system at the top of the hill which was about two hundred feet to the bottom. Additionally, firefighters brought in a Stoke’s basket and additional rope systems to set up an additional system to reach the patient that was in the water of the preserve. Firefighters began to assess the patient for their injuries and began to provide advanced life support measures to stabilize the injury and packaged the patient into a stokes basket.

Firefighters on the hill above created another low angle rescue system by connecting to numerous anchor points and creating a pulley system that would assist bringing the patient up the steep embankment. As soon as the patient was fully secured in the stokes basket and given a helmet, firefighters pulled the rescuers and the patient out of the creek and up the steep embankment. As soon as firefighters reached the top of the steep embankment, they disconnected the Stokes basket and firefighters hiked about one hundred feet to the next steep hill where firefighters had set up another low angle rigging. Firefighters stopped for a few minutes to set up and hook into the Stokes basket and get all of their members connected to the rope system and firefighters at the top of the hill were prepared to pull the rescuers and the patient up the final two-hundred-foot hill.

The additional rescuers that were working the first portion of the rescue near the water broke down all of the equipment and repacking it bringing it to the midpoint of the rescue for firefighters to carry it back up the hill after the rescue would be completed. Firefighters made their way up the steep hill carrying the patient all the way, as the rigging team on the top of the hill had to reset multiple times in order for the crew and the patient to make it to the top safely. Firefighters then made their way out to the medic rig where the patient was transported to the hospital with additional medic resources from the rescue squad on board.

Troy firefighters brought all of the additional equipment out of the preserve and repacked it onto the rescue squad. The exhausted firefighters took a break for a short period of time before going back in service. Just a quick reminder that if you are traveling in the Burden Pond Preserve, to carry a rescue whistle in case of an emergency so first responders can find you easier, a fully charged cell phone along with a backup battery bank, and if you are hiking alone to notify someone of your location in case of an emergency. The dedicated firefighters from the city of Troy are highly trained in rope rescue and face numerous calls each year in the cities preserves, nature trails off of the bike path and gorge area. Rensselaer County is lucky to have multiple fire departments including the Poestenkill, City of Rensselaer, Nassau, and the Defreestville Fire Department that are highly trained in rope rescue that service the county.