A crane worker who saved a man from burning high-rise in Reading has described how the dramatic rescue unfolded.
Two men were rescued by crane and taken to hospital for treatment for smoke inhalation after the large fire broke out at the Station Hill development site in the Berkshire town on Thursday morning.
Footage showed the moment Glen Edwards used the Tower crane he was operating to move a cage towards a workman trapped on the building surrounded by flames and thick smoke.
Mr Edwards, 65, said: “I was no more than 20 metres up in the air and I looked out my left-hand window and saw a guy standing on the corner of the building.
“I’d only just seen him and someone said ‘can you get the cage on’, so that was it, I got the cage on and got it over to him the best I could. It was quite windy conditions. I would say it was a very close call, if you look at the video at the way the wind was swirling around there.
“I tried to put the cage down between him and the flames, but I was hampered by the wind swirling around there. But I got the cage down and I managed to get him in there.”
Crane Hubs comment:
There is no doubt that Glenn definitely saved this guys life, as you can see from the video he was about 5 minutes from being a fatality and if it wasn't for the quick thinking of the guys on the ground getting that rescue cage on and Glenn's very good operating than this could of ended very badly. We hope that all involved get the recognition that they all deserve.