Emergency crews in Fort Worth, Texas, carried out a dramatic high-angle rescue Saturday after a person became trapped in the cab of a massive construction crane, the Fort Worth Fire Department said.
In a Facebook update posted Saturday, the department said the patient was positioned roughly 220 feet above the ground when firefighters arrived.
According to the post, the Fort Worth Fire Department Alarm Office was alerted to a medical emergency at 11:50 a.m. at the JPS Health Hospital construction site. When crews reached the scene, they discovered the person in need of help was not on the ground, but high above it inside the cab of a crane.
The Fort Worth Fire Department posted images on Facebook showing the complex operation to bring a person down from a towering crane. (Facebook/Fort Worth Fire Department)
Firefighters made the climb to the elevated cab, began providing medical care and then worked to safely lower the individual back to the ground, officials said.
The department said its technical rescue teams arrived with specialized equipment and started up the crane’s ladder, carrying everything needed for the operation on their backs.
The Fort Worth Fire Department posted images on Facebook showing the complex operation to bring a person down from a towering crane. (Facebook/Fort Worth Fire Department)
Once rescuers reached the top of the crane, more than 22 stories above ground, they immediately began emergency medical treatment while other team members planned the safest way to bring the patient down, the department said.
“Once the patient was safely hooked up to the ropes and rigging system, the crews had him lowered and on the ground. This all happened within less than an hour of their making it to him initially,” the post read.
The department shared multiple photos of the heroic rescue effort.
The Fort Worth Fire Department shared photos in a Facebook post that described a rescue operation to lower an individual from a towering crane. (Facebook/Fort Worth Fire Department)
“The crane operator was then transported to the hospital in stable condition,” the department added.


