Arab Fire Chief Ricky Phillips said details of how the accident occurred are still sketchy. Arab Fire & Rescue received a call at 5:27 p.m. that a woman had been injured and was unconscious.  Arab Police arrived just ahead of fire department personnel and were met by another ATV rider who led rescue personnel to the accident scene.  Fire & Rescue personnel arrived at the entrance to the sandpit at 5:42 p.m. and had to walk approximately 1/2 mile to reach the victim.  Rescuers found Ellis suffering from a head injury, a broken arm, and going in and out of consciousness.  She was treated at the scene and then packaged for transport by a four wheel drive truck to the waiting ambulance.  Ellis was transferred to the Air Evac helicopter, which had landed at a poultry farm near Warrenton Road, at 6:15 p.m.  She was then flown to Huntsville Hospital.

Arab Fire & Rescue was assisted at the scene by Arab Police Officers Robbie Rainwater and Cass Lambert.  Because radio communications and cell phones were hampered by the remote area and terrain, Arab Police Sgt. Seth Sullivan and Capt. Jerry Holmes at AFD, assisted by relaying radio and telephone communications to AirEvac and to coordinate other logistics that were needed at the scene. 4CVFD assisted by setting up the landing zone for AirEvac. Guntersville Fire and Guntersville Rescue was initially called to assist but were cancelled before they arrived.