Oak Harbor firefighters rescue injured man from roof

Published 8:26 am Friday, August 17, 2012

Pioneer Way in Oak Harbor was closed for about 45 minutes Monday while firefighters used a ladder truck to rescue an injured man from the roof of a building.

Oak Harbor Fire Chief Ray Merrill said a man working on the roof of the two-story building that houses a thrift store broke through a weak spot and twisted his ankle, possibly breaking it.

To safety remove the man from the building, the firefighters fastened a “Stokes basket” ‚Äî a fancy word for stretcher — to the tip of the ladder. The worker was strapped into the basket and then gently lowered to the ground.

Merrill said the maneuver is something they practice and worked perfectly in the situation. If they didn’t have the ladder truck, the firefighters probably would have had to slide the man in a stretcher down an extended ground ladder.

“It would have been very difficult,” he said.

Merrill said the middle-aged man was obviously in a lot of pain and was transported to the hospital for treatment.