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Firefighters Assist With Dangerous Ice Condition Downtown |
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February 15, 2007...Vito Maggiolo |
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heavy sheet of ice hanging over a downtown street posed an unusual
challenge for D.C. firefighters on Thursday afternoon, February 15th. Tower 3 was initially dispatched to the 1300 block of F Street N.W. to assist with a dangerous ice condition. They found a large ice sheet that had formed on an overhang approximately ten stories up. Sizing up the lethal threat to passerby below, the area was cordoned off and a request made for the Sixth Battalion Chief to further evaluate the problem. The battalion chief requested Squad 1 to the scene, and a game plan was developed to knock the ice off in sections, using a 12 foot hook. Squad One firefighter Eric Waddy, secured in a safety harness, sat on a ledge above the ice sheet and began to break it apart. Some portions of the ice were beyond Waddy's reach, and the hook had to be rigged with a rope and dangled from an adjacent section of the building to reach the isolated portions. Finally, a bag lowered from a rope was able to brush the remaining chunks from the ledge. |
