Dramatic Helicopter Rescue in Canada

Dramatic Helicopter Rescue in Canada:
A CONSTRUCTION CRANE OPERATOR in Kingston, Ontario, was trapped in a perilous situation Tuesday with a large fire below preventing his escape.

 
ZumaPress

Fire broke out at a multi-building construction site directly beneath the operator's platform.  In order to save his soul, he climbed out to the farthest part of the crane arm that he could reach.  It was a respite, but not a safe haven as the massive fire coninued to grow. Enter next a daring helicopter crew from the Canadian military Transport and Rescue Squadron.  CBC relates (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/crane-worker-saved-from-kingston-fire-in-extremely-unusual-rescue-1.2467711 ):

The military rescue technician who was lowered from a helicopter to save a crane operator stranded above a massive fire in Kingston, Ont., credits daily training for the success of an "extremely unusual rescue." Sgt. Cory Cisyk, a search and rescue technician for 424 Transport and Rescue Squadron based at 8 Wing Trenton at CFB Trenton, recounted the rescue to CBC's Ian Hanomansing. Cisyk was aboard the CH-146 Griffon rescue helicopter that arrived at the scene above Princess and Victoria streets before 4 p.m. Tuesday to reach the worker, who was trapped high in the air while fire crews worked to put out a blaze below.  Cisyk said that as they were flying to the location they didn't know what to expect, but the crew had a couple of different plans.

 CP

Based on the information they received, they planned a "double-up" rescue in which Cisyk would be lowered from the chopper on a cable and then use a strap or "horse collar" to wrap around the crane operator and pull him up. Cisyk said that when he first made contact with the crane operator, it was difficult to communicate with him because of the noise from the helicopter. "I kept asking if he was OK. I kept telling him I was trying to get him out of there." Cisyk said it took time to get the collar around the man because he was lying down at the end of the crane's boom, but that he got some help from the helicopter flight engineer.

"For us, this was extremely unusual. But even discussing with the crew afterwards … we really figured that the training we do every day really came into it and played a big factor in … the way things ran."

For full coverage of this unusually large fire, Read the report on STATter911: http://statter911.com/2013/12/17/raw-video-large-fire-in-kingston-on-man-rescued-from-atop-construction-crane/