On Thursday, Feb. 23, 2006 at 10:55 a.m., seven companies of Los Angeles firefighters, five LAFD rescue ambulances, two urban search and rescue task forces, 2 LAFD helicopters, one EMS battalion captain, two battalion chief officer command teams and one division chief officer command team, all under the direction of Battalion Chief Ralph Ramirez responded to the helicopter hoist rescue of an ill person at 2049 South Century Park East in Century City.
Firefighters arrived quickly at a construction site for a pair of twin high-rise office towers, where they were directed to the operator’s compartment atop a 310-foot tall crane. According to coworkers, the 61 year-old male crane operator was complaining of chest discomfort.
Firefighters and Paramedics quickly carried a full-complement of advanced life support and safety equipment more than 300 feet above ground level up a steel ladder system that was the sole means of access to the controller’s compartment, and then began their full medical evaluation.
Though the man’s condition was stable, he was medically precluded from descending the ladder during treatment, and the height of the controller’s compartment made a ground-based litter-basket operation with fire department rigging a less than optimal solution. Because there was no one on the construction site certified to safely operate the crane, a decision was quickly made to utilize LAFD air operations to perform a hoist evacuation.
While supportive care was offered to the patient by ground-based crews, an LAFD Bell 412-EP helicopter configured as an Air Ambulance steadily hovered 100 feet above the uppermost portion of the crane. An LAFD firefighter/paramedic was then lowered to the patient via the helicopter’s hoist system.
The patient was subsequently secured with a rescue harness and provided with an evacuation helmet before being fastened face-to-face with the helicopter-based firefighter/paramedic. Both were then gently lifted into the aircraft for the less than one minute flight to the UCLA Medical Center in Westwood. No injuries were reported, and no other persons were treated at the scene.