🚨 Members of the FDNY described the heroic operation to rescue a teen daredevil who fell at least 50 feet down a shaft at the Queensboro Bridge on Monday night.
The first thing FDNY firefighter Khalid Lee saw upon arrival was “a shoe and some blood.”
“When they looked down the hole, firefighter Lee noticed that the victim was at the bottom of the shaft about 50 feet down,” FDNY Lt. Chris Gaulrapp said.
“Once I saw the shoe and the blood, I just relayed that information to the rest of the members on the scene,” Lee said. “So we could all get the ball rolling on what we were going to use to retrieve this victim once we laid eyes on them.”
Lee had to crawl into a small space — 3 feet by 3 feet — to access the 16-year-old boy.
An elaborate rope system was then used to pull him 50 feet back up to safety from the bottom of the bridge stanchion. Firefighters used several different ropes and hooks, not only to make sure they could rescue the victim but also to ensure their safety.
“While the members above were packaging and getting the retrieval system set up, I was down there packaging,” Lee said.
Gaulrapp said the boy was then brought outside onto the platform overlooking Roosevelt Island and taken to a hospital.
The teen, who was hospitalized at Weill Cornell Medical Center in serious but stable condition, was reportedly taking part in a social media stunt with friends at the time he fell.
Thankfully, firefighters from Rescue Company 1 had been training for a rescue exactly like this one earlier that day.
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@mackrosenberg reports
📸 Mack Rosenberg, Citizen App
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