Eleven rescued by helicopter, Weymouth
 

Eleven members of the public and two members of staff were rescued from the Jurassic Skyline tower in Weymouth by coastguard helicopter.


Thirteen people have been winched to safety after becoming trapped up a 53m-high (174ft) viewing tower in Dorset.


Thirteen people stuck up 174ft Skyline Tower in Weymouth - BBC News

The rescue operation began after fire crews were called at about 16:15 BST and ascended the tower.

The helicopter arrived at around 19:30 BST, when other rescue options were ruled out due to bad weather.

It refuelled in Bournemouth at 21:00 BST, before returning to winch those who remained in the tower to safety.

The rescue was completed at about 22:10 and the helicopter was flown back to its base at Lee-on-the-Solent.

Dorset Fire and Rescue said: "Arrangements have been made to provide them with a safe place to rest and recover once returned to the ground."

The firefighters in the tower were getting themselves out of the building.

Interesting that the fire brigade can self rescue but can't get the public out?

Maybe using the opportunity for a training exercise and rappelling?

An interesting and unusual job - nice one.:ok:

Rescued from what? The need to stay overnight in a weatherproof viewing gondola, with blankets and warm drinks no doubt obtainable (if the firemen were able to reach them), versus night winching.

Would there be any technical reason for not refuelling at Portland ?

Portland closed as a Coastguard base earlier in the summer, therefore no fuel available!
Although much has been made by the new occupier of the hangar, Heli Operations?, that they will supply fuel to MCA helicopters when required. Empty promises or some thing not actually looked into, 24 hr cover, engineers available, fuel checked, etc?? Just a good job that no lives were in real danger.Well done to the boys from Lee!
3D

Thanks for the info 3D

Portland closed yonks ago FYI - thanks HM Govt and now there is a planning hoo hah on the base left there - typical weymouth (read DUMP)

and the FB cannot reach the tower with any equipment nor has it an emergency access or egress

its a disaster waiting to happen if there was a fire as the tower has no evac system apart from what was seen last night with a chopper airlift -

i live not that far away

sorry that is simply not going to happen - warm >? no the power failed
drinks? hahahah!
access in an emergency - erm NO

the FB nor the owners have any emergency access to trapped persons nor plans if there was a fire here - only exit is via chopper if this happens again
frankly council planners and the FB need to rethink its operating status

One problem reported on the local news was that the ability to manually wind the gondola up or down to the nearest safety door was disabled as the brakes automatically locked on - great piece of design.

Night winching to that is no more difficult than day winching - the autohover would have done all the hard work.

Just fly a hot formation on the roof.

And that's exactly what they did :ok:

Well done lads

TC

I know a bit about these things, the brake (at the motor) fails to the on position and is released under electrical power that pulls against the closing springs. It is easily released though, manually, up close then you can hand wind it. Its counterbalanced like a lift, so not as bad as you think ( though if lightly loaded it will go up, not down!)

I think rather than a power failure, the overspeed governor has tripped and pulled in the safety gear.... that's not so easy, crane, winches etc.

It would have been safer to wait for a crane and man basket during the day, but in today's OMG freak out society, some poor sod had to dangle out a helicopter.

A good job obviously done.

But this story reminds me of:

That tower looks a very similar design to the i-360 in Brighton. Given that the i-360 can hold up to 200 I hope it has a better emergency exit strategy!!

On the plus side, at least Shoreham is nearby for refuelling