When a small fire inside a $50 million Houston high rise apartment complex suddenly turned the 5th floor into a fiery inferno, construction worker Curtis Reissig became trapped on the unfinished balcony as he waited for fire crews to save him. The fire happened in March of 2014, completely destroying the almost complete building shell, but new footage from one of the firemen’s body cam shows an up close view of rescue.
First, here’s the video that a Karen Jones, who works in a nearby building, captured of Reisseg’s terrifying jump from the 5th floor balcony to the 4th floor balcony and his jump onto the fire truck’s ladder.
According to reports, Reisseg ran up to the roof on his lunch break to try to put out a small fire, but was soon surrounding by flames with no way to escape. As the flames took over the entire 5th floor, he thought his only way out was to jump onto the 4th floor balcony directly below and climb aboard the fire ladder from there. It’s a good thing he did that, because mere seconds after he was safely on the ladder, the 5th floor began to collapse, narrowly missing the ladder. Reisseg managed to escape with only minor burns on his hands and face and no other injuries were reported.
In newly released video that KHOU 11 was able to obtain, firefighter Dwayne Wyble caught up close footage of the rescue on his body cam. The news channel originally tried to obtain the footage right after the fire happened, but due to the ongoing investigation, the fire department was not required to release it. Investigators were never able to determine what the actual cause of the fire was, only that it started on the roof of the building. The 20mph winds that day helped the flames spread like a wildfire.
Below is KHOU11’s coverage of the body cam video:
Full story: Video shows new perspective of dramatic fire rescue | KHOU
Remote jobsites with difficult terrain pose some substantial logistical challenges when it comes to getting equipment and materials on site. I’ve seen several different methods used in the past, such as heavy equipment carrying blimps, cargo planes, helicopters, and the Fat Truck, but I recently came across a new method: a cable car.
In November of last year, the 546 foot tall Mina Plaza in Abu Dhabi officially broke the world record for tallest demolition by explosion, supplanting Hudson Department Store in Detroit, Michigan, which held the record for 22 years.
If you need to get some heavy mechanical equipment on the roof of your project, you could use a boring old crane – or you could gas up the bird and make that equipment take literal flight. Alright, so cranes aren’t actually boring, but some times a helicopter makes more logistical sense, either because it reduces total lift time or, in some cases, makes economical sense. Either way, there are some important safety precautions to take in case something goes wrong.
2020 was a stressful year, so let’s decompress a little bit by reviewing some of the most fun demolition videos from the past year. A demolition that broke a 22 year old record highlights the bunch and I also stretch what the definition of “demolition” is a little bit, because I think the video is so cool. Don’t @ me.
Without further ado, here are the top 7 demolition videos from 2020:
2 years ago, crane manufacturer, Sarens, unveiled what is considered to be the world’s largest crane, by both size and lifting capacity. Big Carl, as the huge crane was nicknamed, began work a few months later on the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in England. Now, the jobsite boasts an abundance of crane activity, a true site to behold, and it was captured on aerial footage for you to enjoy.
Back in 1998, the Hudson Department Store in downtown Detroit, Michigan was demolished by explosives. That building stood 410 feet tall across its 29 floors, making it, at the time, the tallest building to ever be taken down by implosion. The dust cloud covered many city blocks and the 20,000 unsuspecting people that came to watch the event. That record was just recently broken by a building over 100 feet taller than it.
Excavators aren’t typically meant to be dropped down to a lower level, but certain circumstances require it sometimes. The machines are obviously extremely heavy, so a large crane and proper rigging is required for it to happen safely. As a construction firm in Hong Kong, China recently found out, though, it’s a little tougher than it seems.
Usually, when a new development is going to go into a spot where a building already exists, that existing building gets blown into smithereens and its remaining rubble hauled away. BUT, there is apparently a different way to handle the situation now, which is by politely asking the building to walk away and to find a new home – well, kind of.
CAT is no stranger to finding extremely creative and expensive ways to show off their construction equipment. In years past, they’ve created a giant Jenga game with 600 pound blocks and the world’s first moving golf course on the backs of their dump trucks. Now, they’re showing off some of their new technology with the release of the biggest PAC-MAN game you’ve ever seen.
On Tuesday morning, February 23, the Syracuse Fire Department responded to a call about a collapsed crane on a construction site near the university. Thankfully, no injuries were reported.