The Cave/Cliff Unit was requested for mutual aid by the ![]() Tumbling Rock Cave is a popular cave exploration destination for organized cavers, outdoor groups, scouts and novices. The cave is owned by the Southeastern Cave Conservancy, a non-profit organization that protects caves and it's inhabitants from development or destruction. The cave has many miles of impressive passage and is one of Alabama's deepest and longest cave systems. It is also home to a rich history that dates back to the Civil War. The cave is novice friendly, but good preparation and adequate equipment is critical to safe, successful exploration of the cave. Explorers lacking the appropriate training or equipment have been subjects of rescues from this cave in the past. In an interesting and rare twist, CHCRS ![]() was requested to respond to a second, simultaneous cave incident in Grundy County, TN. The two calls came in five minutes apart. Fortunately, the Coalmont Fire-Rescue Squad was able to handle to incident without CHCRS assistance. This allowed our team to focus on the Tumbling Rock Cave response. Simultaneous cave rescues are rare, with the only recorded incident occurring in 2011 when CHCRS responded to a cave rescue in Jackson County, AL and Van Buren County, TN to accidents that occurred within one hour of each other. Unusual events like these are rare as the number of cave rescues annually is 8 to 10 for the entire Southeastern United States. |
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