Editor’s note: this story was updated with more information on June 19. -MD

Rescue crews performed a technical rescue down the bluffs and along shoreline west of Sequim to help an injured woman on Tuesday morning.

Battalion Chief Chris Turner with Clallam County Fire District 3 reports a 65-year-old woman broke her ankle while looking for her dog after it had fallen off the bluff the night before on the 100 block of Sea Bluff Lane near Monterra Drive.

The dog did not survive the fall, he said.

Turner said the woman hiked along the beach looking for her dog and she fell from about 10 feet up on the bluff.

She had been lying on the ground for several hours and was showing signs of shock, he said.

Multiple career and volunteer firefighters responded around 8:34 a.m. and had contact with the woman within 10 minutes after arriving on scene.

Clallam 2 Fire-Rescue were requested to provide additional rope rescue technicians, and crews anchored a life safety rope system from a neighboring home’s property and rappelled about 160 feet down to the woman.

Fire District 3 also deployed the department’s Utility Task Vehicle (UTV) from Green Point and drove about 3 miles along the beach.

Turner said rescue crews splinted the woman’s ankle, provided warming blankets, and extricated her from the beach with the UTV to an ambulance with Olympic Ambulance staff taking her to Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles.

Fire crewmen on the UTV returned to transport the woman’s husband, rescuers and the deceased dog.

Turner said firefighters often train for complex rescue incidents such as this.

Photo courtesy of John McKenzie/ Firefighters rappelled down bluffs north of Sequim and drove the district’s utility task vehicle (UTV) from Green Point to help a woman who was hurt while looking for her dog.

Photo courtesy Clallam County Fire District 3/ Firefighters rappelled down bluffs north of Sequim overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca to help a woman who was hurt while looking for her dog that fell.