Village Employee Rescued from Orland Park Water Tower

ORLAND PARK, IL — Orland Park firefighters Tuesday used a hook-and-ladder truck to rescue a village employee who became sick while working on one of the village’s water towers near 147th and 88th Avenue in Orland Park.

The employee had climbed up the water tower’s internal ladder system of steps and platforms to the top, when he reported that he was sick and unable to come down on his own.

The Orland Fire Protection District sent the hook and ladder truck to the scene and used a “tower ladder” with a basket just before 2 p.m. to remove the employee through an escape hatch located on the bottom of the tower “bulb.” Firefighters also set up a system to ease him down the inside ladder which consisted of several hundred steps and platforms.

Firefighters determined the tower ladder would be the safest and most efficient way to extract the individual through the escape hatch located about 75 feet above ground.

(Photos courtesy of the Orland Fire Protection District)