Centre Wellington firefighters rescue two from Elora Gorge

ELORA – Centre Wellington firefighters rescued two people from the Elora Gorge on Sept. 28.

Centre Wellington Fire Rescue deputy fire chief Jonathan Karn said the call came in as a water rescue by the Wellington Road 7 bridge over the Elora Gorge at about 4:40pm.

When 39 firefighters from the Fergus and Elora stations arrived they saw there were two people in the gorge that needed a rope rescue – not a water rescue.

“There was one person initially in the water and the second injury came from a person that had seen what happened and ... then themselves were injured when they were trying to help,” Karn said.

Both people were successfully extricated out of the Gorge and transported to Groves Memorial Community Hospital.

“Serious injuries, but not life threatening from what we were told,” Karn said.

Guelph Wellington Paramedic Services and Wellington County OPP assisted with the rescue.

The fire department was on scene for about 90 minutes because of where the rescue was, and the OPP closed the Wellington Road 7 bridge for over an hour.

Karn said it “creates some chaos with having two bridges in Elora closed.

“However, because of where we were operating, we didn’t have much of a choice.”