https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnFQm_4_9W0
An 80-year-old Edgartown man was rescued Monday morning by the Edgartown Fire Department from a ham radio tower in his yard.
William Welch, an electrician and avid amateur radio operator, got his sneaker caught atop a 20-foot-tall backyard antenna after he scaled the structure to secure it ahead of the impending nor’easter, his wife Betty told The Times.
Firefighters were dispatched at around 10:45 am to 7 Welch’s Way for a report of a man trapped on a tower.
Among the first of his department on scene, Fire Chief Alex Schaeffer climbed the tower — an antenna — to assist Welch, who held on just below the apex.
Edgartown’s ladder truck arrived shortly after Schaeffer, but firefighters couldn’t position the ladder beneath Welch because a pitch pine was in the way. Instead, the ladder was telescoped parallel to Welch and Chief Schaeffer.
Firefighters moved back and forth over the ladder and put a helmet on Welch and fitted him with a harness. The harness was fastened to the tower, so Welch couldn’t fall. Chief Schaeffer then climbed down, collected gear, and was subsequently hoisted aloft by the ladder on a rope. After being positioned adjacent to Welch, Chief Schaeffer linked a harness he wore to Welch’s with carabiners. Firefighters then hoisted the two over the pitch pine and safely to the ground, where a group of firefighters and EMTs awaited.
Welch was taken into an Oak Bluffs ambulance for observation and released, his wife said. His pride is a little bruised, his wife said, but nothing else.
“He’s doing wonderful. He just had a big lunch,” she said midday Monday.
The mishap was a fluke, she said. Welch has climbed all his life. He turned 80 in October, but feels 20 years younger, she said.
I love that he’s 80 years old and managed to climb up there — keep on keepin on, Bill !