Englishtown First Responders Rescue Medical Patient By Window

ENGLISHTOWN, NJ — First responders Monday afternoon made an uncommon rescue of a borough resident who needed medical help, but couldn't be transported down his home's spiral staircase.

Police Chief Peter S. Cooke Jr. said Englishtown Fire Department volunteers - who all take extra courses in specialized rescue - were able to use Stokes basket rescue equipment to get the person out of the house through a window.

A stretcher could not be navigated on the spiral staircase that is a design element in the one-bedroom townhouse, Cooke said. The patient could not walk down.

So the fire department rescuers accessed a second story window using a ladder, backboard, Stokes basket and rope, police said. The man was then able to be transported for treatment for his medical condition.

"It's amazing - these are all volunteers and they go though extra training beyond the Fire Academy to do this," Cooke said.

Corporal Scott I. Zapora and Officer Inderpreet Singh assisted the Englishtown Fire Department and the Englishtown-Manalapan First Aid Squad in the incident, Cooke said.

Cooke said that for regular staircases, first responders can use a "stair chair" that has tracks like a tank and can safely navigate a patient down a set of stairs without being carried.