RED WING — Authorities used a rope rescue to haul a female to safety Sunday night after she'd become stranded on a concrete pylon about 25 feet above the Mississippi River.
The incident was resolved just before 8 p.m. Sunday when the Red Wing Fire Department used a rope system deployed from a ladder truck to lower a firefighter under the Mississippi River Back Channel Bridge, which is on the Wisconsin side near the Eisenhower Bridge. The firefighter placed the victim in a rescue harness before both were hauled to safety, according to a press release from the Red Wing Fire Department.
Red Wing Police Chief Roger Pohlman said the 36-year-old woman from Bay City, Wis., had crawled out on the pylon around 6:48 p.m. Authorities arrived and convinced her not to jump, but the female was unable to safely return to the bridge and boat rescue efforts from below proved unsuccessful.
The Red Wing Fire Department was then called in to perform the rope rescue, which stopped traffic for more than 30 minutes. The stranded victim was raised to safety after being fitted with a rescue harness by a firefighter who had been lowered to her position.
Pohlman said the woman was not hurt.
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That incident concluded a busy weekend on the river for emergency responders. A 21-year-old Wisconsin man was airlifted to the hospital Saturday after suffering a "traumatic injury" following a 30-foot jump into the Mississippi River at a point that was just 3-feet deep, according to the Goodhue County Sheriff's Office.
