Injured worker brought to safety by Montreal firefighters in daring rescue
Construction worker suffers broken leg after 3-metre fall
Quebec's workplace safety and health commission is investigating after a worker fell three metres at a Montreal construction site.
At around 8:45 a.m. Tuesday, a 60-year-old man fell from what firefighters described as a ladder or scaffolding while working on the third storey of a building under construction on Wellington Street near Peel Street.
The man broke his leg in the fall.
Paramedics called a special team of Montreal firefighters nicknamed the spidermen to lower the injured man to safety.
"Since it is a building under construction, the stairs are temporary, so it was preferable to use a rescue basket to get him down," said Bruno Ruscio, the chief of operations for the Montreal fire department.
Firefighters anchored the injured worker with cords, strapping one rescue worker to the basket with him and using a crane already on the scene to bring him to safety.
Ruscio says entire operation, involving a 4.5-metre descent, took between 20 and 30 minutes.
"It's not a big thing for us," he said, downplaying the dramatic-looking rescue.
