NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The call that came into the New Haven Fire Department Friday afternoon is not one the firefighters get very often.
A partial building collapsed with people trapped under the rubble.
"In reality, and I hope this for them, but this is a once-in-a-career call," said Danny Coughlin, assistant chief of operations for the New Haven Fire Department. "We always pray they don’t come and for a lot of people they never do come but today it came."
However, it is a call they’re prepared for.
New Haven Fire Chief John Alston said the department is highly trained to respond to these scenarios.
"We simulate we take the equipment out we find a building that’s under renovation or about to be knocked down and we utilize those tools as well," he said.
The training was put to good use on Lafayette Street on Friday, where the team worked quickly even from up above. Crews set up an aerial ladder, sending crews in, to get those injured out.
"They lowered the rope down, packaged the victim in a stokes basket. We were actually able to lift him out of the collapsed structure and swing him with the aerial ladder and he literally almost ended up right on the stretcher," Coughlin said.
Firefighters also dealt with many dangerous conditions. They had to make their way through a construction zone where concrete had just been poured.
"There’s rebar that’s falling in certain areas which could impale folks actually pierce you and puncture your body very easily," Alston said.
"They had thousands upon thousands of pounds of wet concrete and they just had construction debris," Coughlin said. "We had about a 20x60 area of debris about 8ft high."
Ultimately, everyone was rescued from the building and no firefighters were hurt. Officials said it took crews less than 45 minutes to get everyone out.
"That was an incredible rescue," Alston said.
"In my 21 years on this job it was one of the most impressive rescues I’ve ever seen," Coughlin said.
Gaby Molina is a reporter and anchor at FOX61 News. She can be reached at mmolina@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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