February 13, 2013

Calgary firefighters perform high angle rescue

City of Calgary firefighters were called out early this morning to rescue an injured maintenance worker from a temporary scaffold 12 metres in the air.

“The worker had been doing maintenance work when a pane of glass from the arched ceiling dislodged on one side causing it to swing on its hinge striking the worker in the head,” said a City of Calgary press release.

“The glass shattered knocking the worker down.”

Firefighters arrived at TD Square in downtown Calgary at 2 a.m. on Feb. 7 and found the contract worker injured on top of a temporary scaffold in the food court area on the fourth floor.

The high angle rescue team was called in to bring the injured worker down from the platform.

“The team loaded the patient, an adult male, into a specialized stretcher,” said the release.

“Then, using a crane that was on site, operated by Stampede Cranes, (they) raised the patient up through the window opening and moved him to a flat area of the roof, where his care was transferred to EMS (Emergency Medical Services).”

Firefighters said the use of the crane was deemed the safest and quickest way to aid the patient. It also saved the firefighters from having to do a complicated, higher-risk rope rescue.

The injured man was brought into the building and down to ground level using an internal elevator.

The rescue took about 30 minutes to complete.

JOC NEWS SERVICE

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