The lift at the right is the one that the trapped men were working on. To the left is an aerial ladder from a fire department vehicle. Rescue personnel also were on the tower itself at this point. Safety lines that they attached from the trapped men to the tower can also be seen here.
Bristol Fire and Rescue and sheriff’s deputies are on the scene of a man who is stuck on a tower — maybe a cell phone tower — along Highway C in Bristol. He may have been working on the tower from a lift.
UPDATE 9:43 p.m. — Fire department is requesting help with traffic control due to a large number of onlookers.
UPDATE 9:47 p.m. — Deputy reports traffic now not a problem.
UPDATE 10:03 p.m. — Channel 58 reporting that two men are trapped and rescue is under way now. Heading out to scene in about 14900 block of Highway C now.
UPDATE 10:43 p.m. — Both men down from tower. Climbed into rescue basket with help of firefighters. Will have video from the scene as soon as we can.
UPDATE 11: 26 p.m. Just got back from the scene. Bristol Fire Chief Peter Parker said while officials were concerned about the men being in danger of contracting hypothermia, both were not showing signs of it. Both did not appear to be injured, but whether they might still be transported to the hospital was unknown. Fire department aerial ladder trucks could only extend to 100 feet, but men were at 110 feet in a lift working on the cell tower. The lift sunk in soft ground and safeties kicked in that did not allow the operators to lower the lift. That happened about sundown. Ultimately 12 fire departments responded including high angle technical rescue personnel. The lift rescuers used was supplied by Klaus Crane, a company with an arrangement with emergency agencies for such situations. Firefighters were called to the scene at about 8:05 p.m.
Here’s some video of the rescue lift going up and then the men stepping from one to the other:
Here’s video of Bristol Fire Chief Peter Parker giving an update to the media just after the men were rescued (eventually the TV cameras leave and I lost their light, but the chief continues the interview):
