In the last part of our regular ladder news update we looked at reports of fatalities following accidents on ladders, as well as ladder related crimes and thefts. Next up we look at how the fire service have been using ladders recently.

Ladders for Charity

Firefighters often use their ladder skills to raise money for charity: we’re always seeing stories about them climbing ladders for long distances and time periods, or sitting at the top of them in an endurance challenge. At the end of August in Manchester, UK, two firefighters climbed the height of Everest on a ladder. Kevan Downey and David Cracknell are no strangers to fund raising for charity, having cycled from Land’s End to John O’Groats, rowed in the Salford Dragon Boat Race and run a 50k race in a caterpillar costume. This time they scaled a 13 metre ladder 1,474 times over the course of six hours in a bid to climb the height of Everest. Their success, despite the rain, saw them raise over £1,600 for the Make A Wish Foundation, and now they are inspired to attempt the real thing! We’re sure they will cope admirably with the ladders that make up parts of the ascent to Everest.

Rescues by Ladder

In St Austell, Cornwall, a family was rescued from their burning home by firefighters using a ladder. The family was trapped in the second floor of their home, and were alerted to the fire when the smoke alarms went off; a good reminder to check the batteries in yours. It’s not always the fire service that carry out rescues from burning buildings though, often members of the public or other emergency services are involved. A resident of Allentown, Pennsylvania, was hailed as a hero in September after he saved a teenage boy from a burning building. Ramon Liceaga had been in his back garden when he saw flames coming from a nearby building, so he ran to the front, only to find someone trapped in a third floor room. He found a ladder, but it was too short for the tall window, so he had to climb onto a bay window porch roof and use the ladder from there. After he managed to get the man out of the house they were able to escape to the building next door, which shares the window porch. The fire was thought to have been started accidentally, after food was left cooking unattended on the hob.

In Fredricksburg, Virginia, a police officer was dispatched to a fire to support the fire department, and was the first to arrive on the scene. Despite having no rescue training, officers Ryan Merrell and his colleague Bill Hallam, who arrived shortly after, knew they had to act. A teenage girl was trapped on the second floor of the building as the stairs from her room were blocked by the fire. The officers decided that the thirteen foot drop was too much for her to jump, so Officer Merrell borrowed a ladder from a nearby yard. They set the ladder up, but it was still too short to reach the window, so Officer Hallam went up to the top and helped the girl out of the window and down to the ladder. By the time she was safely on the ground the fire department were on the scene and extinguished the fire. Two months later both officers were given a Lifesaving Award by the Police Department.

Officer Zack Raymond of the Waynesville Police Department, North Carolina, was also praised by his colleagues for quick thinking and when he rescued a man from the second floor of a burning building. He scaled a ladder and pulled a window from its frame with his hands, before helping the trapped man out and down the ladder. The incident was captured on the helmet camera of a local firefighter.

Firefighters in Campbellsville, Kentucky, were on the receiving end of a nasty shock when they took part in the ALS Ice Bucket challenge with a group of college students. The marching band from Campbellsville University wanted to do something spectacular for their challenge, so they involved the local fire service by getting them to pour water on them from the top of their aerial ladder. Two firefighters were in the bucket at the top, and two were on the ground, and as they were finishing the stunt and moving the bucket back down it got too close to overhead power cables, causing an electrical current to jump out to the metal bucket and ladder. The two on the ground were mildly shocked, but were able to lower the ladder to reach the other two, more seriously injured men. They were all taken to hospital, but Tony Grider, who had been in the bucket at the time, was most badly injured. He sadly died a month after the incident.

Lighter Ladders

As always, we end on a lighter note with a look at some of the more random and bizarre ladder stories of the past month or two.

Armed police officers in Leamington Spa were the users of a vehicle mounted ladder as part of a drugs raid in September. The specially adapted Land Rover is used primarily by the SAS to gain access to high places from the security of an armoured vehicle, but it was used this time by the police to gain access to the flat above a shop without alerting the occupants. Passers by and residents were shocked to see such a piece of equipment, and speculated that it might be linked to a terror raid, as they had never seen such tactics used before.

A man in Hallow, Worcestershire, was rescued from a pond after he failed to rescue a cat. The cat was stuck up a tree, and the man had leant a ladder against it to retrieve the cat, but fell off and into an adjacent pond. The rescue (of the man) took around half an hour, but it was unclear what happened to the cat.

Ladders sometimes feature in the world of music, and one is to blame for the collaboration of Lady GaGa and Tony Bennett. They have been friends for about two years after meeting at a charity event, and she has serenaded him from a ladder, stating that “I had to get closer to you. I told you, I don’t like to be anywhere but cheek-to-cheek when you’re in the room. Their collaboration, also called ‘Cheek-to-Cheek’ is out now. Beck’s song ‘Heaven’s Ladder’, released as part of his Song Reader sheet music project, has been released with a ladder-heavy video, which can be viewed on Vevo if you are a fan of both music…or ladders!

In a stunt worthy of an entry into Idiots on Ladders, a man in Swadlincote was pictured balancing a ladder on two tables in order to reach the front of a shop he was working on in the town centre. The straight ladder was on top of two coffee tables, which had been balanced on top of one another. A passing council environmental health officer spotted the dangerous set up and advised the man to take the ladder down, due to the risk to his own safety and that of the public. We’ll wait and see whether anyone managed to get a picture of a man on the ladder to submit to the Ladder Association competition.

Join us next month for another look at ladder news from around the world.