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E-mail StoryCrews rescue worker from massive oil tank
| Wednesday, Jul 4 2007 10:40 PM
Last Updated: Wednesday, Jul 4 2007 10:45 PM
Before they could turn to a night of waiting for fireworks-related fires, the crew of the Bakersfield Fire Department's Station 4 had to rescue a man from a huge oil tank.
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BAKERSFIELD FIRE DEPARTMENT CONFINED SPACE RESCUE.
Two men were spraying the inside of a tank at Bryant Fuel Systems, at 1300 32nd St. in Bakersfield, with a protective coating, when the ladder one was using slipped.
The man had been near the top of the ladder, and the tank was about 12 feet tall, said Capt. Patrick Ponec, who was the first firefighter on the scene.
It took about 20 firefighters, including a hazardous materials team, to rescue the man, who had hurt his hip and hit his head when he fell, Ponec said.
The firefighters used a ladder truck to set up a rope-and-pulley system, allowing them to lower Engineer Kevin Albertson of the fire department into the tank, Ponec said. Albertson then attached the victim to a device to immobilize his head and torso.
It was a brute-force job with men pulling on the ropes to pull the man up out of the tank and then lower him to safety, Ponec said.
Ponec said the tank was about 100 feet long and 12 feet in diameter. The two men inside were wearing white protective suits. The uninjured man could have gotten himself out, Ponec said, but stayed with the other man while people outside called for help.
"It's certainly the most interesting thing we've had today," Ponec said.