Five fire crews to rescue one man

Published: Wednesday, 27 May 2009
UPON receiving a call that a man was drowning in the Leeds & Liverpool Canal near Armley Mills, no less than five fire crews rushed out to attempt a rescue. It was a towpath jogger that saw the man in the water struggling to get out, and though he attempted to drag the man to the bank, he was in such a poor way and was of little help, so the jogger rang the emergency services, upon which fire crews from Leeds Central, Hunslet, Rothwell, Stanningley and Brighouse fire stations rushed to the waterway.

By the time they arrived, the man, still in the water, had lost consciousness, so a rescuer in a life jacket and on a security line went in and pulled the drowning man out. The rescuers were able to resuscitate him, and when the ambulance arrived he was taken to Leeds Infirmary, and it was later stated that he was 'stable'.

Shaun Gautrey, Watch Manager of one of the crews praised the jogger for his prompt action in getting help, otherwise the man, believed to be around 45, would have drowned.