A delicate, sky-high rescue was necessary Thursday when an injured worker was brought down from the 12th floor of a downtown Fort Lauderdale construction site.
The incident unfolded about 10 a.m. at 299 N. Federal Highway, where a building is under construction.
Teams from Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue used a type of stretcher called a Stokes basket — connected to a tall crane being used for the construction job — to slowly lower the worker to ground level.
Officials said lowering the injured worker by crane was “the best course of action” rather than using the site’s temporary external elevator system or a rescue ladder.
The worker was accompanied by a member of the Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Department and the two men were lowered slow and steady.
The worker is believed to have had a back injury. He was taken to the hospital, officials said.
“In this situation, it’s basically keep him calm,” said Kenneth Interien of the Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Department. “We train on this all the time, so for us it’s kinda like second nature.”
The identity of the injured worker has not been released.
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FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - Fort Lauderdale firefighters rescued a construction worker, Thursday morning, who was injured on the 12th floor of a high rise.
The construction worker was hurt on the job just before 10 a.m. and safely brought to the ground almost 45 minutes later by the fire department’s Tactical Rescue Team (TRT).
“Our initial teams got here and made an assessment of the situation and determined quickly it was going to be a TRT operation,” said Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Capt. Garrett Pingol. “Later, they went to the top floor, which caused a slight delay in access to the patient.”
7SkyForce HD hovered over the construction site, near 299 N. Federal Highway, where Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue officials said they worked on bringing the worker down off the top floor of the building.
Firefighters said they used a tower crane to bring down the worker. “Once they made contact, they determined the only way to get him down was through a TRT response,” said Pingol. “Our units from 47 responded from TRT and made contact and determined the best course of action was what you saw, removing the victim down via a stokes basket using the crane on-site.”
Fire rescue officials said the man suffered a back injury on the 12th floor of the building.
The worker was quickly transported by ground to a nearby hospital for medical treatment.
The extent of the worker’s injuries remains unknown.