Firefighter Tom hailed for rescue from pylon
ATARLETON firefighter has been commended for rescuing a man spotted dangling 60ft up an electricity pylon.
Tom Cookson, 48, a station manager with Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service, led the team that rushed to save the man who was hanging upside down from the electricity wire in a field in Penwortham.
The incident took place on August 7 last year, at around 3pm.
The firefighters were amazed to find him alive, considering the 400,000 volts transmitted through the cables.
But a call to National Grid established that the power had been shut down on that day for maintenance – essentially sparing his life. Although he man avoided electrocution, he had lost his footing when climbing the tower and only the hem of his jeans getting hooked in the structure had stopped him falling.
Firefighters climbed the pylon to make sure he would not fall by securing him with straps, and administered Entonox gas to try to relieve his pain.
Eventually, with the help of the air support unit, Lanca- shire police and National Grid, Grid the shaken man was safely transported down to the field, where he was taken to hospital via air ambulance.
It is thought that he went on to make a full recovery following the incident.
Mr Cookson, a married father of three, was in charge of the unique operation and he bravely utilised his resources to save a life.
The former Tarleton Community Primary School pupil said: “This was most definitely the hardest rescue I have ever had to deal with.
“It was certainly the highest, but I was lucky to have specialist teams beside me to help make it a success.
“I have 24 years of incident command experience behind me, so I am used to making difficult decisions.
“I have to evaluate situations and decide if the risk is worth the benefits and, in this case, the man’s life was quite literally hanging in the balance.”
Mr Cookson was one of several Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service officers to be celebrated at the chief fire officer’s commendation ceremony, held on Monday.
The deputy mayor and deputy mayoress of West Lancashire also attended.
Mr Cookson has been commended by the chief fire officer of Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service for his “exceptional leadership and resourcefulness commanding an incident at which a man was rescued at height from an electricity pylon”.
Mr Cookson, who has been in the fire service for almost 30 years, said: “It is very nice to be recognised for the rescue, and nice that all the teams have been praised.
“It is great our hard work hasn’t gone un-noticed, but we were just doing our jobs.”