Firefighters performed an unusual rescue of a driver who became trapped in his dump truck nearly 30 feet in the air after the truck tipped backwards in Buffalo Grove Friday morning.
The Buffalo Grove Fire Department and Buffalo Grove Police Department responded around 9:15 a.m. Friday to the 1200 block of North Barclay Boulevard in Buffalo Grove for a report of an accident with entrapment.
Initial reports indicated the driver of the truck was trapped 25 feet in the air by a machine, according to Village of Buffalo Grove Communications and Engagement Director Molly Gillespie.
The fire department arrived within minutes of the call and found a truck that was picking up a metal waste dumpster for disposal.
Gillespie said the dumpster appeared to be too heavy for the truck’s lift system, resulting in the front end of the truck being lifted off the ground and pointed upwards toward the sky.
Fire crews made contact with the uninjured driver of the vehicle.
They communicated that they would be raising a ladder to his location and would assist him from the cab of the truck, Gillespie said.
The aerial ladder from one of the responding fire trucks was raised to the driver’s door of the vehicle.
The driver was assisted onto the ladder and eventually lowered to the ground.
Gillespie said no injuries were reported and the scene was turned over to the Buffalo Grove Police Department while they awaited a service company to respond to the scene to lower the vehicle.
A high wind warning was in effect for the Chicagoland area when the incident occurred.
The excessive wind created challenges with the rescue operation but it is not believed to be a cause of the incident, Gillespie added.
Village officials said the rescue operation is not one you see every day, while crediting Lieutenant Beckman and Firefighter-Paramedics Dinsmore and Baniqued.