FDNY Saves Man Dangling From Williamsburg Rooftop

Photo courtesy of the FDNY.

The Fire Department of of the City of New York doesn’t make a habit of blogging, but when it does, we get insanity like a man dangling 30 feet above the ground from a Williamsburg rooftop by a random cable wrapped around his right foot while a firefighter bear-hugs him and the two go careening through a third-story window.

It all started on Hooper Street in lower Williamsburg around 11 p.m. on Tuesday, August 4, fire bloggers say.

Members of Ladder Company 108 and Engine Company 216 received a ticket for reports of a jumper-down on Hooper Street in Brooklyn. Arriving on-scene and finding a man suspended by a foot entangled in a wire they affected a joint high-angle rescue operation using the ropes.

The victim had somehow managed to lodge himself into a “rear shaft-way” of the four-story building, says the FDNY, so he couldn’t be saved using a traditional ladder maneuver.

“It was strange, and precarious because we didn’t know what to expect,” says Captain Daniel Keane.

So a firefighter named Matthew Regis reportedly climbed the building’s fire escape to the first floor — then balanced himself on a flimsy, one-inch “angle-iron” sticking off the side of the building.

Firefighter Regis stabilized the victim by his left elbow using his webbing, then stabilized his right elbow using Lt. Tineo’s webbing.

Regis recalls: “This was such an oddball event, but it went perfectly.”

That’s when firefighter Joseph Andreas joined the fun.

Andreas was to repel from the roof and grab the victim by the waist, stabilize him as Firefighter Regis (on the angle-iron) pushed him towards the window and Firefighter McCann (on the 35-foot ladder) snipped the lines in which he was entangled. The go-ahead was given.

Now for the best part.

Lowering himself to the victim, Andreas became briefly entangled by the same ropes, but was able to free himself and proceed. Just in time, he bear-hugged the screaming victim as the cable suspending him from the ceiling broke. They were both pulled into the third floor window and Lt. Tineo with help from Regis who was still on the platform made by the 12-foot ladder.

No word on how the victim got into such an awkward predicament, if it was intentional, etc. But we’re glad he’s OK, along with the shape-shifting, bear-hugging, night-blogging heroes of the FDNY.