Dallas police officers and firefighters are being praised after rescuing a homeless woman who was trapped in a ravine for days. First responders said the rescue pushed them to their limits, but they never gave up.

Paramedics and police officers responded to a call late last month in searing afternoon heat after a man working out near Conrad High School reported hearing faint cries for help.

“When we got the initial call with DPD, we were seeing notes that said that there was someone deep back beside the ravine,” Dallas Fire-Rescue paramedic Robert Kober recalled.

A recent storm had turned the terrain in the area into a thick, sticky mud. “You stepped in it, you sank past your ankles, sometimes halfway or more up to your knees. Nasty, nasty conditions,” Dallas Police Sr. Cpl. Mark Gnewuch said.

They hiked nearly a quarter mile through the muck, thick brush and even sewage to find the woman. A one point they even needed to fashion a makeshift bridge, Kober said. 

“By the time I got out there, I’d already slipped and fell once and my thought process was ‘wow, she has been out here for a while,’” Gnewuch said.  

“I was expecting to see someone who was barely coherent, possibly deceased, but when we arrived on location and I saw her, she was actually carrying on a conversation,” Kober said. 

The woman was taken to a hospital suffering from severe dehydration, prolonged sun exposure and other injuries, but was in stable condition. 

“I have been on similar situations where individuals who are in that type of environment for that long, they don’t survive, so it was definitely a miracle to make it through,” Kober said. 

The rescue was proof of what can be accomplished when first responders work together.