Nick Reynolds

nreynolds@ithacajournal.com | @IJCityWatch

For the fourth time this year, Ithaca's emergency service workers found themselves performing a rescue in one of the city's gorges.

Tompkins County Dispatch received a call around 1:30 a.m. Sunday from a man stating he had fallen somewhere in the gorge between College Avenue and Stewart Avenue while looking for firewood behind the Alpha Chi Alpha fraternity's house at 125 Edgemoor Lane.

The Ithaca Fire Department said the man fell approximately 80 feet down the steep embankment of Cascadilla Gorge. Injured but conscious, he was able to call 911 The IFD, Bangs Ambulance, and Ithaca and Cornell police were sent to the scene.

No easy task for Ithaca gorge rangers

Ithaca police and Cornell safety workers located the man at the base of the gorge. Firefighters brought down a rescue basket and were able to carry the victim up and out along a trail within two hours of arriving.

Off-duty Ithaca firefighters were called in, and the Cayuga Heights Fire Department was on watch for other emergency calls.

The man was transported to Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre, Pennsylvania, and his condition was not released Sunday morning. Cornell and Ithaca police are investigating.