VANCOUVER -- Fire crews performed a technical rescue in an unusual location Saturday afternoon, rescuing a man who had fallen down an embankment near a busy intersection in downtown Vancouver.
Crews were called to the intersection of Burrard and Cordova streets, just a block away from the Vancouver Convention Centre, to extricate the man, who had been trying to access an area tucked out of sight below the sidewalk, near the Expo Line SkyTrain tracks.
Battalion Chief Dave Rosenlund, of Vancouver Fire Rescue Service, said the man fell "12 to 15 feet" while trying to climb down the opening.
"From what we hear, there's a tree that's broken down, down into that area, and he was climbing down - apparently, they climb down there all the time and sleep underneath the cover," Rosenlund said. "He fell and hit his face and had quite a nasty gash on the top of his head."
Rosenlund said the man lost consciousness for an unknown amount of time after the fall. When he regained it, he was disoriented, but began calling for help. Fire crews weren't sure how long he had spent at the bottom of the embankment.
Firefighters brought in their technical rescue team to lift the man out of the area safely.
"It was too unsafe to bring him down through the lower level," Rosenlund said.
The man was taken to hospital after the rescue.
Rosenlund said fire crews always try to be conscious of physical distancing rules during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the team executing the technical rescue needed to work in closer proximity to each other than health officials recommend in order to get the job done.
"When we extricate a patient like that, it's tough to maintain that six-feet distance," the battalion chief said.
The intersection was closed for more than an hour as crews worked to rescue the man.
