Fire Department

Rescuers were called to the MGE power plant located at 717 East Main Street Thursday after the sky lift a worker was using stopped functioning, leaving him stranded approximately four to five stories high in a confined space.

Engine Company 3 arrived first on scene and located the man with the help of other MGE workers, who explained that work was being done inside a deactivated boiler. Engine 3 made verbal contact with the man inside the boiler and confirmed there were no medical emergencies— he just needed to be lowered to the ground.

Although it was the first time the worker found himself in such a precarious situation, the MFD and its Heavy Urban Rescue Team (HURT) already had a plan in place:

The MFD HURT staged on the fourth floor to establish rope rescue operations that included anchor points and rope-lowering systems. Not confident with the harness he had with him in the stalled lift, the worker asked HURT for another option. The HURT raised one rescuer up to the man’s location and provided him one of their harnesses.

Once secured in the harness, the worker was lowered down to the base of the boiler at 11:19 a.m., where Ladder Company 1 and MGE personnel had been awaiting his descent. The lines were raised up one last time to retrieve the HURT rescuer located near the stalled lift.

Rescuers asked once again if the man was feeling fine, and he confirmed he did not require any medical attention.

The Heavy Urban Rescue Team was established in 2007 to specialize in technical rescue, including high-angle rescue and confined space rescue. The team’s rigorous training regimen has an included a collaboration with MGE, which has allowed rescuers to use MGE’s facilities to simulate scenarios exactly like this one. The HURT’s familiarity with the facility, its personnel, and the specific factors at hand in this type of operation were instrumental in making Thursday’s rescue both safe and efficient.

Pictured: Engine Company 3 and the MFD HURT retrieve rescue equipment and proceed into MGE facility.