Man Rescued from Water Tank
In entering the winter season, officials from Lincoln Fire and Rescue in Nebraska weren’t expecting to receive a call regarding a water tank rescue near 84th and South streets.
“What starts out as a calm Saturday morning turns out to be a technical rescue on top of a water tank,” Captain Ron Trouba with LFR said.
According to reports, a 31-year-old contractor with Seattle-based H2O Solutions was working on the 65-foot-tall water tank when his back spasmed while pulling rope and was unable to move or get down from the infrastructure on his own.
The man was working on the water tank at about 11 a.m. when he injured his back and was unable to get back down on his own. https://t.co/cqrrU0KuvU
— Lincoln Journal Star (@JournalStarNews) December 5, 2020
Crews are reportedly hired to check the condition of the tanks every five years. The contractor needing rescue on the job was actually one of five others inspecting the water tank that day.
“Once we provided some patient care on top of the tank and stabilized the patient, we moved him into a stokes basket,” Trouba said. “Once he was in the basket we attached that to the ladder and had a rope system, that goes from patient to ladder down to the ground.”
LFR Battalion Chief Bob Watton told reporters that the entire rescue took about an hour and employed the use of one of the city’s four ladder trucks.
While the emergency wasn’t typical for LFR, they’re happy to report that the rescued man is OK. Local news sources also reached out to H2O Solutions where representatives said that they were pleased with how quickly and professionally the fire department handled the situation.
