FIREFIGHTERS and police were called after a woman became trapped while trying to rescue her dog on the banks of Jumbles Reservoir.

Residents first spotted the emergency services rushing to the area yesterday (Saturday) at around 11.30am, including police cars, fire engines, ambulances and mountain rescue vehicles.

One witness reported seeing the woman holding onto a tree and shouting to walkers for help close to the cafe at the country park.

A firefighter had to be lowered down in a harness to help her but fortunately nobody was injured.

"Earlier this morning, on my daily walk, I came across a young lady who seemed to have gotten stuck down the hillside of Jumbles Country Park," the witness said.

"She seemed to be shouting for help as she frantically clutched a tree branch. Helpful members of the public came to her aid by immediately calling the emergency services.

"Two ambulance, two fire engines, one special rescue and one police car later, the lady and her puppy were hoisted to safety. It was a very worrying time for the locals who could hear and see the commotion."

Andy Bolton, watch manager at Bolton North fire station, explained that emergency crews had treated the incident more seriously because of the poor weather conditions and the location on the banks of the reservoir.

"On the footpath around the reservoir there's a steep embankment and a dog had been running and fallen down the slope towards the water," he said.

"It had stopped close to the water but when the owner went down to help it out it was so slippy that she couldn't get back out."

"We went down and lowered a firefighter down towards her and he brought her up using a winch.

"Then we had two guys who went down to the water in dry suits and they were able to get the dog out.

"If the weather hadn't been as bad as it was then it wouldn't have been an issue but the rain meant the slopes were extremely slippy and we didn't know how deep the water was."