BURLESON, Texas -- A communications tower worker in North Texas has been rescued from a height of more than 700 feet after apparently suffering heat exhaustion.
Rescue officials say the man was lowered to safety early Thursday and transported to a Fort Worth-area hospital. His name and condition weren't immediately released.
Lt. Jeremiah Lozier with the Burleson Fire Department says the rescue took about seven hours and a harness was used to lower the man. Rescuers used a belay system, which is what rock climbers use to bring the worker down.
The patient had actually taken his harness off and was laying on a deck on the top, Lozier said. So we were able to talk him back into his harness; get him hooked up to our rigging and lower the patient down which took about six-and-a-half to seven hours to effect the rescue.
Fire officials say they train for this type of rescue, but called it a once-in-a-lifetime event.
The National Weather Service says temperatures were still above 100 degrees in the area Wednesday night when co-workers reported the man appeared to be overcome by the intense heat. Some of the rescuers on the scene were treated for exhaustion.
The worker was estimated to be 750 feet in the air. That s 200-feet taller than Reunion Tower and more than twice as high as the University of Texas Tower in Austin.
