Cliff Falls Keep Texas Responders Busy

Aug. 21--Three people were injured near cliffs in Austin early Tuesday morning, officials said, including two who fell an estimated 30 feet near the Pennybacker Bridge.

A man and woman fell off a cliff by the bridge over Lake Austin in West Austin around 5 a.m., said Reggie Tait, a spokesman for the Austin Fire Department. The woman was found walking in a nearby parking lot and the man was located just below the cliff with a leg injury, Tait said.

About an hour earlier and a few miles away, fire and EMS responders had rescued another injured woman on Mount Bonnell, where she suffered minor injuries in a "hilly and brushy area," Tait said. Crews were able to reach her with a rope system and move her by ground to an ambulance.

It wasn't clear what caused the woman's injuries, but Tait said she was in an "altered mental state" due to a medical condition, alcohol or drugs.

All three were in areas that are accessible to the public, Fire Department spokesman Eddie Martinez said.

However, the woman was at Mount Bonnell during the 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew at the city parkland. Martinez said she also was found beyond the fence aimed at discouraging people from getting too close to the ledge.

"That's like standing on the edge of a 20-story building," said Victor Ovalle, a spokesman for the city's parks and recreation department. "It's over 200 feet high, and if you're going to be doing it late at night, that's just inviting disaster."

Ovalle said the area is especially dark at night because it doesn't have lighting.

From 2008 through 2013, the Austin Fire Department received 36 high-angle rescues and rescue alarms within the city limits, including five at Mount Bonnell and six at Pennybacker.

Tuesday's incidents were the first in both locations this year, according to the department, which said available data may not capture all rescues due to how incidents are coded.

EMS data shows that medics responded to 14 incidents at Mount Bonnell in the past 36 months, but agency spokesman Warren Hassinger said the number of incidents near the Pennybacker Bridge weren't immediately available because they could have any number of addresses in the the dispatch system.

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