73-year-old contractor, Paul Reed has told how he lost his footing and slid 20 feet down a 75 foot pole. His first thought? "How am I going to get back up, when my foot slipped out of the bottom one so I couldn't bring myself back up."
Reed says he slipped out of his safety rigging, which looks like a wooden swing. He says he held on for 15 minutes waiting for Henrico firefighters to save him.
It happened just before 2:00 p.m. Witnesses were shocked by what they saw. Some thought it might be a stunt. But the man who was in his 70's, had his legs wrapped around the tall pole, his arms tangled in rope. It is believed he was up there for at least 15 minutes, while rescuers got in place.
A ladder and bucket were sent up to the man and firefighters brought him in. He was lowered to the ground a short time later.
Captain Chris Buehren from Henrico Fire says, "We don't respond to these type of calls often but we do practice a lot for them. The guys are highly skilled in their apparatus in what they can do and what they can't do."
Reed says he's been doing this kind of work for 20 years. And despite the recent slip, he doesn't plan on giving it up. "I will go back up there. I will fix it."
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