An injured man became trapped on rocks below a steep cliff near 435 Beavertail Road in Jamestown Thursday evening, prompting a multi-unit rescue that ended with him being pulled out by boat and rushed to Newport for treatment. Crews were called to the scene at about 5:20 p.m. after a report of an injured man on the rocks, and firefighters located him below the cliff face shortly after arriving.
According to WJAR, the Jamestown Volunteer Fire Department searched the shoreline and used a drone to pinpoint the man's exact location along the rocks. A rescue swimmer then reached him, secured him, and moved him to the department's Marine 1 rescue boat, which transported him to Newport. The man sustained minor injuries, according to fire officials, and was taken to a hospital for additional treatment.
A Familiar Emergency Along the Same Stretch of Coast
This is not the first time Jamestown crews have scrambled to reach someone stranded on the rocks near Beavertail Road. Just last October, firefighters dispatched Marine 1, a drone, an all-terrain vehicle, and trail-clearing equipment to rescue a hiker trapped on coastal rocks near 609 Beavertail Road, according to What's Up Newp. The same outlet reported that in August 2025, firefighters rescued a woman and her dog after they became trapped on shoreline rocks at Beavertail State Park, relying on location guidance from a nearby boat operator.
The tactics on display Thursday echo a rescue from February 2023, when the fire department used an infrared-equipped drone to locate a man who had fallen into the ocean off Beavertail State Park, allowing state rescue swimmers to pull him from the water, as reported by WHDH. That same incident required a fire department officer to rappel down a cliff face to reach the man once the drone had pinpointed his position, according to The Jamestown Press.
Why the Cliffs Keep Claiming Victims
Part of the problem lies in how visitors reach the water's edge in the first place. A master plan presentation for Beavertail State Park found that visitors have carved out roughly 90 informal desire footpaths down the park's cliffs, creating slippery and hazardous drop-offs, per a separate report from The Jamestown Press. The Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council officially classifies Beavertail Point as a rocky shore headland vulnerable to accelerated bluff erosion and substrate instability from wave action and foot traffic, according to the state's coastal resources management program.
The stakes of the terrain have proven fatal before. In August 2020, a 14-year-old boy drowned after slipping on wet rocks and falling into the ocean while fishing with his family at Beavertail State Park, according to the Fall River Reporter. Even rescue attempts by bystanders have gone wrong: in March 2024, firefighters had to rescue not only a dog that fell off a cliff at the park but also a civilian who became stranded while trying to help the animal, What's Up Newp reported.
A Volunteer Force Built for Island Terrain
Beavertail State Park sits at the southernmost tip of Conanicut Island and draws heavy tourist traffic to its four scenic overlooks, public fishing access, and the historic 1856 Beavertail Lighthouse, according to Rhode Island State Parks. Handling emergencies across that terrain falls to the Jamestown Volunteer Fire Department, an all-volunteer municipal agency that operates under the town charter and submits its budget and annual reports directly to the Jamestown Town Council, per the State of Rhode Island Ethics Commission.
Thursday's rescue adds to a growing list of incidents showing how the department has adapted its equipment and training to the park's unforgiving cliffs and rocks, pairing drones, marine units, and swimmers to reach people cut off by tide and terrain. It remains unclear whether state park officials plan any new barrier fencing or path closures to address the informal footpaths cited in the 2023 master plan presentation.
