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A woman stranded for more than four hours on a crane at a construction site in the city’s downtown core was rescued by firefighters on Wednesday morning, will be charged with mischief, police confirm.
Toronto police were first called to the area of Church and Wellesley streets shortly before 4 a.m. for reports of a woman trapped on a crane.
Police told CP24 that it appears the woman climbed up to the very top of the boom of the crane and then somehow managed to lower herself down a cable onto a block on the crane’s hook.
The block where the woman was sitting measured about two feet long by six inches wide.
Toronto Fire Capt. Rob Wonfor and a police emergency task force negotiator scaled the crane to reach her.
“Obviously the crews really can’t determine what the situation is or what the plan is until they are actually there,” Toronto Fire Chief Matthew Pegg told reporters at the scene.
The initial idea was to secure her to a safety harness and then lower the crane but the plan changed when crews became concerned about safety ropes becoming entangled in the machinery.
Wonfor and the woman, who is believed to be in her 20s, ultimately rappelled down to safety at around 8:30 a.m.
“We train for this and our crews certainly train for this, although we’ve never seen one quite like this before,” Pegg said.
“There really isn’t a textbook but I think they just wrote it.”
The fire chief said in total, it took about 2.5 hours for Wonfor to climb up the crane and bring the female to safety.
Pegg called the rescue “a very well-executed operation” by a “highly skilled technical rescuer.”
Speaking to reporters following the ordeal, Wonfor said the female was “very calm” during the rescue.
“She made me calm actually,” he said.
“She had a little, thin coat on but you know what, she was a brave girl. She helped me when I got there so we were both calm.”
He said Toronto Fire Services provides good training for high-angle rescues.
“I do a lot of rope work with trees and that plus I’m a bit of a monkey so they thought, you’re the guy,” Wonfor said.
Pegg told CP24 that firefighters training will increasingly focus on high-rise buildings due to Toronto’s expansion.
“Our city is very vertical, it’s increasing so not only high-and-go rescues like we saw today, but firefighting in tall buildings, our response in evening dealing with medical emergencies in tall buildings poses different challenges,” Pegg said. “As we continue to grow and evolve that’s a top priority for us is to continue to keep up with the vertical pace and make sure our training and equipment match the needs of the city.”
The acting Toronto fire captain, who was understandably fatigued, said he still planned on playing in a hockey tournament this morning.
“We’ve got a game at 11 so I don’t want to be late,” he laughed.
He added that he still does not know how the female got up to the top of the crane, which is approximately 12 storeys tall.
“She is going to tell me later because I need to write it down,” he said. “That’s how I do it next time.”
It is still not clear why she decided to climb up the crane in the first place.
She was placed in handcuffs when she reached the ground and police say she will be charged with mischief.
Criminal defence lawyer Ali Goldkind says police have to charge her.
“The police have their hands tied here,” he said Wednesday afternoon. “Here’s why, first of all you worry about copycats — people going off and doing it again … she did interfere with property.”
Goldkind added won’t likely hold up in a courtroom.
“There’s very little to this,” he said. “The charges will either be dropped and diverted or a little minor slap on the wrist.”
Toronto Paramedic Services told CP24 Wednesday morning the woman was taken to hospital in stable condition.
