Fire crews describe daring rescue of man from pylon in Hutton

Specialist teams were tasked with the extraordinary job of scaling a 50 metre high pylon off Liverpool Road after the man was spotted just after 3pm on Monday August 7.

And crews have now revealed how they tackled the "highly complex" job of bringing the man to safety.

A spokesman for Lancashire Fire Service said: "We were called to a gentleman hanging upside down by his leg from a pylon 25 metres up in the air.

"It was certainly not an every day occurrence and he was very lucky he didn't fall or wasn't electrocuted.

"The plan initially was to get the aerial ladder platform in place. That was towed across the field but there were issues getting it there because the ground was waterlogged."

It was then that firefighter Rob Ridgway was tasked with climbing half way up the 275 Kv pylon to help bring the man down.

He said: "Myself and firefighter Simon Eardley climbed the pylon to assist the person to safety.

"Initially we were told to make sure our ropes and harnesses didn't touch the other side of the pylon which was still live at that point which added to the complexity of the job.

"We made our way up to where the man was hanging by the cuff of his jeans which he still had on one leg.

"Most of his other clothing had come away.

"We had to get over to the man who was just out of reach.

"Another team of firefighters, Kurt Livesey and Darren Kyle climbed above us and set up a rope.

"Once that was in place they lowered me down and we managed to attach the rescue harness and release the man from the pylon.

"It was certainly one of the most complex rope rescue jobs I've ever seen.

"It was bit unnerving to say the least but we do train for situations like this."

The man, who was understood to be in his 30s, was brought down from the pylon shortly before 7pm on Monday and taken to Royal Preston Hospital as a precaution.

The circumstances leading to him becoming trapped up the pylon remain unknown, a force spokesman added.

Police say the man did not suffer any serious injuries as a result of the incident.

A spokesman for the National Grid said: "The ‘danger of death’ signs we put on our pylons are no exaggeration.

"You don’t have to touch the wires to get electrocuted as high voltage electricity will jump several feet to get to you.

"Falling from the top of a pylon will also kill you.

"We put anti-climbing guards on our pylons and it is utterly foolhardy to try to get round these and put your life at risk.”

Man rescued from electricity pylon