A boom truck malfunction left its operator stranded several feet off the ground in Smyrna, Tennessee, on Tuesday, prompting a fire department response that ended with the worker safely back on solid ground. Firefighters used an aerial ladder to bring the person down after the equipment failed mid-operation.
According to the Smyrna, TN Fire Department, crews were dispatched following a report of a failed boom truck that had left its operator stranded several feet in the air. Ladder 5 responded to the scene and used its aerial apparatus to rescue the stranded worker, the department said in its post.
The department's account does not specify where in Smyrna the incident occurred, how high the operator was stuck, what caused the boom truck to fail, or whether the worker suffered any injuries during the ordeal. It also does not identify the operator or say how long the rescue took.
Not an Isolated Type of Call for Fire Crews
Stranded workers in malfunctioning elevated equipment have turned up more than once this year in other parts of the country. In Huntley, Illinois, firefighters were called out after an aerial lift began smoking and stopped working, leaving an adult male contractor stuck 80 to 100 feet above a water tower, according to shawlocal.com.
In that case, the Huntley Fire Protection District was called at 8:22 a.m. to the well house and water tower at 10770 Kreutzer Road, the outlet reported. Crews in the fire district's ladder truck were able to reach the man and safely transfer him to the ladder's platform, and no injuries were reported.
A similar scenario played out in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in late June, when a boom lift became unstable and its controls stopped responding, leaving the operator unable to descend on his own, per mlive.com. Firefighters there assessed the situation and used ground ladders, not an aerial ladder, to safely bring the operator down to the ground, the report noted.
What Remains Unknown in Smyrna
Unlike the Huntley and Ann Arbor incidents, the Smyrna post does not detail the cause of the boom truck's failure or the operator's exact height above the ground beyond describing it as several feet. Those gaps mean comparisons to the other cases are limited to the general pattern of equipment failure followed by an aerial-ladder rescue, not shared specifics.
For now, the Smyrna Fire Department's account stands as the only public record of Tuesday's rescue, with Ladder 5 credited for getting the stranded operator safely back down.
