The Holiday Island Fire Department located and rescued an injured driver from an accident scene Monday, June 17, in the vicinity of Arkansas Highway 23 and Carroll County Road 266.

The fire department was dispatched at 2:54 p.m. and personnel initially were unable to locate the accident scene, according to a post on the department’s Facebook page. Chief Randy Ates noted a broken road sign a quarter- mile south of the concrete bridge at CR 266. He picked up EMT Robyn Pence to act as an observer and slowly drove the northbound shoulder of the road. Pence saw the wrecked vehicle through heavy underbrush in a ravine, and fire and EMS personnel were directed to the location.

Pence took a medical bag and slid down the steep, rocky embankment to reach the injured driver while Ates directed other personnel to the correct location. All northbound traffic was stopped because of the sharp, blind curve creating a safety hazard.

Firefighters set up a low-angle rope rescue system while paramedics made access to the vehicle with the aid of additional emergency responders.

The patient was extricated from the vehicle, placed in a rescue basket and hoisted out of the ravine to the roadside. From there he was taken to an ambulance and transported to a nearby landing zone. The patient was flown by Air Evac Lifeteam to a nearby trauma center.