MONTEREY, Tenn. — A Saturday-night rescue at Bee Rock ended with three stranded people safely back above a steep hillside after Monterey police and regional first responders converged on the popular overlook.
The Putnam County Rescue Squad account carried by 102.5 WOW Country says its Rope Rescue Team, the Monterey Police Department and multiple other agencies responded after the three became stranded on the hillside Sept. 26.
Two of the people were holding onto small shrubs near the edge of a bluff more than 50 feet high, according to the Rescue Squad’s account. Rope-team members reached the hillside and worked to bring all three back to a safe location.
All three were able to walk away with only minor scrapes, the Rescue Squad reported.
A developing call became a coordinated rescue
WSMV reported from the active scene Saturday night after Monterey police said multiple agencies had been dispatched and asked the public to avoid the area. The station’s initial update said police had reported two people safe while first responders remained on scene.
The later Rescue Squad account, published Sunday by both 102.5 WOW Country and the Herald-Citizen, gives the final total as three people brought to safety. Thin Blue News is using that later figure while preserving the chronology of the earlier police update.
Neither account publicly identified the rescued people. Thin Blue News is likewise withholding unnecessary identifying details.
Public safety is often a team effort
Steep-terrain rescues depend on different agencies doing different jobs at the same time: securing access, controlling the scene, keeping bystanders away and putting specialized rope technicians where ordinary footing is not safe.
Monterey police were part of that coordinated response. The Putnam County Rescue Squad’s rope team performed the specialized hillside access described in the later report, while the other responding agencies supported the operation.
That distinction matters. The safest rescue is not about giving every responder the same role; it is about bringing the right capabilities together quickly and keeping the operation controlled until everyone is accounted for.
The outcome at Bee Rock was the one every team wanted: three people back on safe ground, with no serious injuries reported.