Vancouver firefighters rappel down building to rescue trapped window washers – BC | 24CA News
There had been some heart-stopping moments Thursday afternoon for a pair of window washers trapped on a mechanical raise platform in downtown Vancouver.
Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services had been referred to as to carry out a technical rescue on the constructing at Georgia and Homer streets round 1:45 p.m., after the employees’ platform froze halfway up the constructing’s exterior.
Firefighters needed to rappel from the highest of the constructing to the platform, then decrease the employees to a touchdown under.
“As you can see from the layout of the exterior where it’s not just a flat surface to it, it adds that extra layer of complexity and our highly-trained crews were able to overcome that by going to the top of the building and being able to overcome the challenges from the exterior layout and get down to those people who were basically on an immobilized platform,” VFRS Capt. Matthew Trudeau mentioned.
“It is a very high-risk manoeuvre, and it is obviously dangerous putting crews outside the building and going down that significant distance to them, a lot of technical aspects to that to make sure everyone is safe.”
The total rescue took an hour to finish, and firefighters mentioned nobody was injured.
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