North Highlands Mtn Rescue Putnam 6-22-08

[NHFD21255 141]

The rescue was a male subject who rolled his ATV by the old fire tower between Lk Suprise rd and Beacon.

Units on scene were North Highlands Fire 21-1-1 , 21-1-2 , 21-1-3 , 21-61 , 21-3-1 , 21-3-3 Philipstown Vac 33-1-1 , 33-7-1 , 33-72 and Putnam County Sheriff. First ambulance was used for pt and second was used to evaualate FF's after pt carried apx 2 miles thru woods.

Link to IA

[helicopper 1,050]

Should have called a helicopter and hoisted him out - then nobody would have had to hike two miles!!! Seriously though, the State Police are right across the river in Newburgh with two hoist equipped helicopters and of course Westchester is available for mutual aid!

[/shameless plug]

[PC_420 28]

Chris, you know if I was working I'd be suggesting Westchester County PD Aviation. Get you some work. But hence I can only do so much.

[helicopper 1,050]

Chris, you know if I was working I'd be suggesting Westchester County PD Aviation. Get you some work. But hence I can only do so much.

Hey, we're not greedy! The State Police are closer and could be to North Highlands faster than us.

It's time that this part of the country start thinking about resources available to them that are standard in other parts of the country!

[stephen morea 1]

what vehicle is 21-3-3

[NHFD21255 141]

If he was right at the fire tower we would have called for a helicopter . The problem is he started to walk down himself and then he realized he was hurt (lower back & possible broken ribs). At that point if we wanted to air lift him out we would have had to carry him almost 3/4 of a mile and that would have been all uphill just to the base of the tower , then up a hill that some people have a hard time walking up without carring a stokes. That hill is a least a 1/4 mile straight up. It was just safer to come downthe mtn rather than go up.

21-3-2 is our 6 wheel gator I must have hit the 3 instead of 2 in my orginal post sorry

[DOC22 1]

Hey, we're not greedy! The State Police are closer and could be to North Highlands faster than us.

It's time that this part of the country start thinking about resources available to them that are standard in other parts of the country!

AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!

[JM15 386]

Buckwrapper does your gator have an attachment to carry a stokes?

[helicopper 1,050]

If he was right at the fire tower we would have called for a helicopter . The problem is he started to walk down himself and then he realized he was hurt (lower back & possible broken ribs). At that point if we wanted to air lift him out we would have had to carry him almost 3/4 of a mile and that would have been all uphill just to the base of the tower , then up a hill that some people have a hard time walking up without carring a stokes. That hill is a least a 1/4 mile straight up. It was just safer to come downthe mtn rather than go up.

21-3-2 is our 6 wheel gator I must have hit the 3 instead of 2 in my orginal post sorry

Hey buck, thanks for the response! Why couldn't he be picked up from where you found him? That's the whole point of a hoist or long line anyway!

Just so I understand the scene, where exactly was he? Got any major landmarks or better yet, coordinates?

[JetPhoto 626]

FYI - I have been up in that area and if you went thru Beacon, and went up the Mt road, you could have walked him 1/2 mile and then used the ATV and drove him down the mountain on the road.

The tower is in Dutchess, but we would have called you guys anyway.

[TRUCK6018 50]

Which way did he start walking out? North toward the old casino area? North east toward the reservoir? South toward Lk Surprise? South west toward Breakneck Ridge?

There are way too many trails to guess which would be the easiest access point to the fire tower all depending upon where he was in relation to the tower. For those not familiar with the terrain, the fire tower is about 2 miles from the closest street with an elevation of about 1,900 vertical feet above sea level and anywhere from 1,100 to 1,500 vertical feet from street level. GPS coordinates of the fire tower are 41 28.893'N, 73 56.665'W.

[nhfd241 4]

Buckwrapper does your gator have an attachment to carry a stokes?

No it doesn`t have a attachment for a stokes

[Lucifer 6]

Which way did he start walking out? North toward the old casino area? North east toward the reservoir? South toward Lk Surprise? South west toward Breakneck Ridge?

There are way too many trails to guess which would be the easiest access point to the fire tower all depending upon where he was in relation to the tower. For those not familiar with the terrain, the fire tower is about 2 miles from the closest street with an elevation of about 1,900 vertical feet above sea level and anywhere from 1,100 to 1,500 vertical feet from street level. GPS coordinates of the fire tower are 41 28.893'N, 73 56.665'W.

Sounds like a cool place for a day hike, Is the tower open to the public to climb?

[NHFD21255 141]

He started to walk out towards Lk Suprise where they went in from. Chris , there really isnt anyway to pick someone off the trails from our side of the mtn , you look up at the sky and all you see is leaves and branches. I've ridden this mtn for years and it's probley close to a mile from the bottom of the tower over to the road that comes up from beacon. Next time I'm up there I plan on taking GPS readings and recording mileage markers. The biggest problem with all these Mtn rescues seems to be the people getting lost or hurt have NO CLUE where they are so it's hard to figure out where to start.

[TRUCK6018 50]

Sounds like a cool place for a day hike, Is the tower open to the public to climb?

The tower at South Beacon Mountain is not open for climbing. There have been talks of Scenic Hudson doing something with it but nothing has happened. Scenic Hudson is the same group that built the stairs and platforms on the north side of the North Beacon Mountain for access to the old incline railway. THis is the one trail that directly leads to the old casino area. The parking area is at the corner of Rt 9D and Howland Ave.

Fire Towers that are open for climbing are Mount Nimham in Kent (Carmel) off Gypsy Trail Rd and Sissing Mt Tower in Pine Plains.

Edited June 25, 2008 by TRUCK6018

[JetPhoto 626]

The Mt. road from Beacon is drivable up to the towers. You can usually take a car up there. Here is a photo desciption of the area.

This one has contours.

[xfirefighter484x 234]

Sounds like a cool place for a day hike, Is the tower open to the public to climb?

The tower at South Beacon Mountain is not open for climbing. There have been talks of Scenic Hudson doing something with it but nothing has happened. Scenic Hudson is the same group that built the stairs and platforms on the north side of the North Beacon Mountain for access to the old incline railway. THis is the one trail that directly leads to the old casino area. The parking area is at the corner of Rt 9D and Howland Ave.

Fire Towers that are open for climbing are Mount Nimham in Kent (Carmel) off Gypsy Trail Rd and Sissing Mt Tower in Pine Plains.

Not only is it not open for climbing, it is in terrible decay. Any attempt to climb could end in very serious injury. A sad unfortunate truth of the relics of days gone by, not necessarily forgotten, its kind of hard to miss a huge hundred foot tall tower on top of a mountain), but for monetary support.

On a very clear day, NYC can be seen from the top of Mt. Beacon, as I saw in a pic on someone's MySpace, and if I remember correctly, wasn't it yours JetPhoto??

So yes, it is a great day hike!

[Danger 160]

I never realized you could drive up Mt. Beacon, I thought that was closed to the public. I've hiked the highlands a lot down there by Breakneck, beautiful views.

[TRUCK6018 50]

The road way to drive up is not open to the public. In fact, you wouldn't want to drive up it if you value your ride. I did some work at a house partway up the mountain off Mount Beacon Monument Rd that is difficult at best with a 4 wheel drive truck. Fantastic views from the house but you need to wear a kidney belt for the drive up to it. Additionally, the house is totally self sufficient. No power, no cable, no phone going to it. The house electric is run strictly from a generator.

[JetPhoto 626]

The road way to drive up is not open to the public. In fact, you wouldn't want to drive up it if you value your ride. I did some work at a house partway up the mountain off Mount Beacon Monument Rd that is difficult at best with a 4 wheel drive truck. Fantastic views from the house but you need to wear a kidney belt for the drive up to it. Additionally, the house is totally self sufficient. No power, no cable, no phone going to it. The house electric is run strictly from a generator.

The road is not always like that. If the city or a radio contractor has to do work up on top they may have a crew clean it up. Because there is no runoff control, the water takes out the road. I myself have driven a car to the reservoir with out damaging it, have driven my truck in 2 wheel drive to the radio towers with out destroying my truck.

The house you are referring too, is not in any fire district or protection district. If it burns everyone gets to sit back and watch and only if it threatens the woods will the DEC respond. Big risk to take.

[TRUCK6018 50]

The house you are referring too, is not in any fire district or protection district. If it burns everyone gets to sit back and watch and only if it threatens the woods will the DEC respond. Big risk to take.

Are you talking of this house that the driveway and circled in yellow (at about 3 o'clock of the Pocket Rd water tower):

I wasn't aware that it's not in anyone's district (not that it's my problem either way).

While working up at it I've often wondered how it would be attacked if there was a fire. There is no water source anywhere near by (except for the hot tub on the deck). There were no sprinklers in the house (that I remember) and there is no feesible way of setting up a tanker shuttle. Action to take: Shut off propane supply to house, shut down generator (if running) as you pass both driving up to the house. Then shut down the battery bank providing the electric on the back side of the house. After that, sit back and get the marsh mellows.

I guess the home owner is happy since she can get up there no problem with her BMW SUV....lol

[helicopper 1,050]

The house you are referring too, is not in any fire district or protection district. If it burns everyone gets to sit back and watch and only if it threatens the woods will the DEC respond. Big risk to take.

So who's land is the house on? State land? How is it that it isn't in anyone's fire district, I've never heard of that before.

[TRUCK6018 50]

So who's land is the house on? State land? How is it that it isn't in anyone's fire district, I've never heard of that before.

I don't know the direct answer to your question but I can tell you how it could happen.

Example using the last picture as reference. Note, I don't know the accuracy of the following information. I'm just using it as a demonstration:

The City of Beacon protects the city proper. This land I believe falls within the Town of Fishkill. For arguments sake the city proper is everything about the black dotted line. Everything below the black dotted line would fall in the Town of Fishkill proper. Because the Town of Fishkill is comprised of multiple fire districts or fire protection districts (Glenham, Dutchess Junction and Rombout) that have set bounderies based on the town's tax map. Because this house does not fall within any of the districts boundaries its is virtually unprotected.

This is not to say this if an incident were to happen, no one would respond. It's just that this house doesn't fall in the boundaries of any agency.

Personally, the house is (in my opinion) a liability to the homeowners. The access is difficult at best at times (probably impossible in a snowstorm). The access road (Mt Beacon Monument Road) is not on the map as it's a private road. The road is off of Mountain Lane which is within the city limits.

I would think the fire insurance on the house is astronomical as it is realistically "unprotected" with out any nearby water source. If it were given an ISO rating the rating would be unprotected.

There are no public utilities (electric, gas, telephone or cable) so all telephone calls for help would come from via a cell phone where the location would have to triangulated not giving a definitive location for PD/FD or EMS.

Edited June 29, 2008 by TRUCK6018

[JetPhoto 626]

So who's land is the house on? State land? How is it that it isn't in anyone's fire district, I've never heard of that before.

It is one of the few privately owned parcels on the mountain. it is surrounded on three sides by land owned by either NYS Parks or Scenic Hudson. There is also 1 cabin left from back in the day located near the old casino property and wheel house, the antenna farms also fall into the same category of no protection. The following cover most of the mountain in Dutchess Co. Beacon Vol. Amb., Tn of Fishkill PD & NYS DEC. Situations like this are not as common in this area anymore but can still be found upstate (or so I am told.)

Truck6018 - you pretty much hit the nail on the head with your statement.

[gamewell45 258]

So who's land is the house on? State land? How is it that it isn't in anyone's fire district, I've never heard of that before.

Chris, when I was a fireman in Westchester in the mid-1970's i was aware of two areas that were in "no man's land".....Usonia homes in Mount Pleasant and a part of Silver Lake in West Harrison. They were in no fire distrnict or fire protection district at the time; evenutally Usonia was able to get fire protection from Pleasantville FD in the mid-1980's i recall; but i'm not sure if Silver Lake ever was able to get into a fire district. Those were the only two area i knew of with no fire protection tho' i'm sure there are most likely more throughout the state..