Fire & Rescue assists in roof rescue
Published: 29th May 2012
Fire & Rescue NSW (FRNSW) crews rescued a man from the roof a two-storey high school building at Bonnyrigg Heights this morning.
At 7.46am today Bonnyrigg Heights firefighters were called to reports a man had collapsed on the roof of Freeman Catholic High School.
Station Officer Don Peters said his crew arrived to find the man, who was being assisted by a co-worker, incapable of climbing down from the rooftop himself.
“He was extremely unwell and could not move,” Station Officer Peters said.
“Bonnyrigg Heights is a rescue station so while we waited for specialist operations paramedics to arrive we got our firefighters up on the roof to provide preliminary medical assistance, such as administering oxygen therapy.”
Once the specialist paramedics, who had been trained in height rescues, arrived and took over medical treatment, firefighters started to work on how get the man down.
The Bonnyrigg Heights firefighters were joined by Busby Fire Station and Blacktown Fire Station Heavy Rescue crews to assist in the operation.
“Due to access problems we couldn’t use a cherry-picker fire truck for the rescue so we set up a ladder slide, using ropes and a rescue basket, to bring the man down to safety,” Station Officer Peters said.
“The rescue operation was difficult and the safety of the men on the roof and emergency services personnel was paramount.”
He said the two-hour rescue operation was a success thanks to the efforts of firefighters and paramedics working well together.