Canoe Woman Rescued After Falling Over A 40-foot Cliff

Members of the Jackson Fire Department were called to the report of a 72-year-old woman who had fallen over a cliff at Canoe on Easter Sunday.

Breathitt County Sheriff John Hollan received a report by phone that Janice Spicer had been walking in the woods and could not get back up the cliff line after her fall.

Sheriff Hollan contacted the Kentucky State Police 911 Dispatch Center in Hazard and requested the Jackson Fire Department respond to the scene for assistance.

According to officials, Spicer and Ricky Prater went to the Spicer Branch area of Canoe on Sunday afternoon to investigate several trees that Spicer believed had been illegally cut on her property.  The pair walked on a logging road to the top of the hill and had started down the other side of the mountain when a small tree she was using to descend the hillside gave way.  

Spicer “tumbled and flipped” several times as she rolled over the hill before coming to a rest at the base of the cliff on a small bench.  After checking on Spicer, Prater walked out of the woods and attempted to summon help from neighbors.   

Fire crews staged at the mouth of Mill Creek and tried to reach the woman from there based on the information they received.  Crews later discovered that the woman was not at the head of Mill Branch and refocused their efforts in the Spicer Branch area.

More than an hour after search crews arrived, Spicer was located at 5:52 p.m. in the head of Cotton Patch and evaluated by responders.  They determined that she was ambulatory and crews aided her back up the hillside and out of the woods.  

Medical personnel met her at the mouth of Spicer Branch at 8:23 p.m. after her afternoon ordeal in the woods.  She suffered many “cuts, scrapes, and bruises,” and rescue crews recommended she be evaluated due to the possibility of a head injury. 

Spicer was transported to the Kentucky River Medical Center for evaluation.