Another person has fallen from a cliff at Eugenia Falls, even after the local conservation authority closed the trail and area.
Grey Sauble Conservation Authority reported a "young man" fell from a cliff at Eugenia Falls on Friday, June 19.
Tim Lanthier, chief administrative officer for the GSCA, was on the scene on Friday afternoon. He told CollingwoodToday the man who fell was injured and, after being rescued, was airlifted to a London hospital.
Lanthier said there were crews on scene from local police, fire, and EMS. The Grey Highlands Fire Department called The Blue Mountains Fire Department in to assist with the rescue since TBM fire is trained and equipped for high angle rescues.
The Blue Mountains Fire Chief Steve Conn said there were about ten people from TBM fire involved in the high angle rescue, which took about four hours.
On June 16, a youth fell from a cliff in the same area after leaving the trail into an area that is out of bounds. The youth was injured in the fall.
After that June 16 incident, the conservation authority closed the trail and park.
The Blue Mountains Fire Department also performed the rescue on Tuesday, which took about the same amount of time. Chief Conn said both rescues were in the exact same place, and the rescue team used the same setup.
"It was like a Deja Vu rescue," he said.
Conn said the person injured on Friday was from the Collingwood area and the person injured on Tuesday had family in Eugenia.
"There were lots of signs up saying the area was out of bounds," said Conn.
He said a high angle rescue always comes with some risk to the firefighters, but they are well trained and the equipment is maintained diligently.
The Blue Mountains will send a bill for each of the rescues to Grey Highlands. Conn said it will be up to the municipality whether or not it wants to pass the bill onto the people who ventured past the out of bounds signs.
According to a news release from Grey Sauble Conservation Authority (GSCA), the man who fell off the cliff on June 19 would have had to pass by a roadway barrier, a locked gate, several no entry signs, warning signs, and a barrier wall in order to access the cliff adjacent to Eugenia Falls.
Last year the conservation authority installed 100 feet of barrier fencing and put up extra signage to "dissuade people from accessing the top of the waterfall and the adjacent cliffs."
The recent property closure has also been noted on the GSCA website and social media.
"The events of this week make it apparent that people are ignoring these efforts," states a release from the conservation authority.
“We were very concerned when we learned of the accident that occurred at Eugenia Falls this past Tuesday," Lanthier said in the news release. “We are already utilizing signage, physical barriers, and OPP patrols to encourage the public to observe safety measures. The incident on Tuesday prompted us to close the property entirely in order to consider other measures that we could implement. When we received the call on Friday about another incident, we were mortified, saddened and very disappointed that people are still not receiving the message.”
The property is and will remain closed until further notice. GSCA has made a request to the OPP that officers charge anyone observed trespassing on the property.
