Woman and dog rescued from ledge at Fawn’s Leap
Published on:
July 9, 2026
Multiple agencies, including the Twin Cloves Technical Rescue Team, responded to the waterfall off Route 23A. Photo: Centerville Cedar Grove Fire District.
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HAINES FALLS―A woman and a dog were rescued Wednesday night after becoming stuck on a ledge at Fawn’s Leap.
It happened shortly before 6:30 p.m. at the popular swimming hole just off State Route 23A in Haines Falls. The dog had reportedly been swept over the 24-foot falls and the woman climbed down after it, but raging water left them both stranded on the rocks some 80 feet below the trail.
Multiple agencies responded to the scene, including the Twin Cloves Technical Rescue Team.
“Upon arrival, units were able to make contact with the subject who appeared to be in stable condition,” said Michael Ivino, chief of the Centerville Cedar Grove Fire District, one of the Twin Cloves Technical Rescue Team member departments.
The Greene County Sheriff's Office and Athens Fire Department worked in the water to set up downstream safety, Ivino noted, while a member of the rope team repelled down the 80 feet to reach the woman and dog.
“Members of the Technical Rescue Team and [New York State] Forest Rangers set up a twin tension rope system to haul the rescuer, victim and the dog up and out of the ravine from the ledge they were on,” Ivino explained.
Both the woman and dog were extricated without injury and turned over to Hunter Area Ambulance and Greene County Paramedics for evaluation, he said.
Also responding to the scene was Town of Hunter Police Department, New York State Police, Ulster County Sheriff’s Office, Haines Falls Fire Department and Tannersville Rescue.
First responders are all too familiar with the site. This past April, a 15-year-old from Brooklyn drowned while swimming with a group of friends.
Over a two-week period in the summer of 2023, rescuers were called to Fawn’s Leap when a flash flood left more than a dozen people stranded on rocks, for a man who sustained serious injuries after falling off a cliff, and for a 16-year-old from Brooklyn who drowned.
In 2019, a 20-year-old military cadet lost his life after the rock ledge he was hanging onto broke.
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