Paramedics and fire crews from both White Rock and Surrey responded to a medical emergency involving a crane operator at a construction site in White Rock Thursday morning.
The tower crane was in operation at the east end of the Soleil condominium tower site at George Street and North Bluff Road at the time the emergency was reported, at around 10:45 a.m., Deputy Fire Chief Ken Molland said.
Pedestrians gathered on sidewalks to watch as fire-rescue personnel climbed the crane, lifted the still-conscious man from the operating cab and lowered him by a rappel system to waiting B.C. Ambulance Service paramedics on the ground.
The operator had apparently radioed the site supervisor from the crane cab, as the site’s safety officer was up in the cab conducting an assessment of the patient when Fire-Rescue members arrived, Molland said.
After a further assesment by White Rock Fire-Resue “it was determined the patient would need to be extracted from the cab of the east tower crane,” Molland said.
Surrey Fire and Rescue members were called in for assistance through a standing reciprocal agreement, he added.
“Between White Rock and Surrey we had, altogether, seven apparatus on the scene, and about 30 staff, including battalion chiefs and duty chiefs,” he said. “It was seamless teamwork between everybody involved.”
White Rock RCMP were on the scene shortly after the incident was reported, diverting traffic from George Street between North Bluff Road and Russell Avenue at the request of White Rock Fire-Rescue.
alex.browne@peacearchnews.com
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