Garigal National Park: Injured woman stretchered out of rugged bushland on The Bluff Track

A combined effort from emergency first responders was needed to evacuate a badly injured woman from a rugged bushwalking track on the northern beaches.

NSW Fire and Rescue; NSW Ambulance, and its Special Operations Team and; police, including a Water Police launch, were involved in the rescue of a woman, 57, who badly injured her leg while walking in the Garigal National Park at Killarney Heights on Sunday, August 16, 2020. Picture: NSW Fire and Rescue (Forestville)

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Ambulance, police, and firefighting officers have joined forces in the “tricky” rescue of a badly injured hiker from a rugged bushwalking track on the northern beaches.

The woman, 57, was carried about 1km on a stretcher after falling and injuring her ankle within the Garigal National Park at Killarney Heights.

NSW Fire and Rescue officers had to take turns carrying the stretcher along the narrow bushland track. Picture: NSW Fire and Rescue (Forestville)

She had been hiking along the popular, but challenging, The Bluff Track about 9.40am on Sunday when she hurt herself and could not continue.

After Ambulance NSW received a triple-0 emergency call it sent five crews to the location, including paramedics from its Special Operations Team, which provides care to patients injured in hostile environments.

NSW Fire and Rescue firefighters from the Forestville and Crows Nest brigades were also called in to help carry the woman along the track.

The woman was taken by a Water Police paunch from Bantry Bay to The Spit to transfer to an ambulance which took her to Northern Beaches Hospital. Picture: NSW Fire and Rescue (Forestville)

Two Northern Beaches Police cars were also involved in the operation.

On its website, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service describes The Bluff Track as a “challenging Grade 3” walk with “many steps” and a series of short steep hills.

National Parks recommends it should be tackled by hikers with “some bushwalking experience”.

The firefighters, who described the rescue as a “tricky incident” took turns carrying the stretcher along the narrow track for about one kilometre.

The stretcher being taken on to the wharf at Bantry Bay. Picture: NSW Fire and Rescue (Forestville)

An Ambulance spokeswoman said the patients, who had suffered a badly twisted ankle, was carried to the wharf on the eastern side of Bantry Bay at the Timber Getters Track Picnic Ground.

The woman was then transferred to a Water Police launch and taken to a jetty at The Spit, on Middle Harbour.

“She was transferred to an ambulance there and driven to Northern Beaches Hospital at Frenchs Forest for further treatment,” the spokeswoman said.