View Royal and Colwood fire crews teamed up for a dramatic rescue of an injured man from the roof of the office building at Eagle Creek Village on Wednesday morning.
A View Royal Fire Rescue crew arrived shortly after 8 a.m. to find that the man, who had been working on the site, had injured his back and was unable to be moved off the roof by conventional methods. Access to the roof of the building from the top floor is by a “ship’s ladder,” said View Royal Fire Chief Paul Hurst.
“Given the complexity of the situation and the necessity to evacuate the injured worker off the roof, a mutual aid call was requested to the City of Colwood for its tower ladder,” Hurst said.
The Colwood aerial truck’s ladder extends 100 feet and was able to reach the top of the building. After the injured worker was treated by paramedics on the roof, firefighters loaded the patient onto the tower ladder platform. He was brought down to the ground and loaded into the waiting ambulance for transport across the road to the VGH emergency ward.
No word was immediately available on the man’s condition, but his injury was listed as “traumatic.”
In all, the crew of 10 firefighters and four paramedics needed about 45 minutes to execute the rescue. Traffic on Helmcken Road at Watkiss Way was diverted through the Eagle Creek Village shopping centre.
editor@goldstreamgazette.com