Hero crane operator says Reading fire rescue was ‘very close call’

A quick-thinking crane operator who dramatically rescued a man stuck on a burning building in Reading has said it was a “very close call”.

Video showed a large fire at a construction site – with the man trapped on a roof surrounded by flames and thick black smoke.

Luckily, a metal cage was carefully lowered, allowing him to clamber in and be hoisted to safety.

“I was no more than 20m up in the air and I looked out my left-hand window and saw a guy standing on the corner of the building,” said Glen Edwards, from Egham in Surrey.

“I’d only just seen him and someone said ‘can you get the cage on’, so that was it – I got the cage on and got it over to him the best I could.”

The 65-year-old said it was a tricky manoeuvre because of the wind.

“I would say it was a very close call, if you look at the video at the way the wind was swirling around there,” he said.

“I tried to put the cage down between him and the flames, but I was hampered by the wind swirling around there.

“But I got the cage down and I managed to get him in there.”

Two people were taken to hospital with smoke inhalation after the fire at the Station Hill development on Thursday morning.

A carpenter working nearby said people applauded as the man managed to get to safety.

“He was coughing [when he came down], from the smoke, you know what I mean. When he got inside [the cage] and the crane put him down everyone was clapping,” he said.

“The crane driver was very fast. He was still in the crane while the building was on fire.”

Redwood Consulting, on behalf of the Station Hill development, said the site had been evacuated and its emergency fire plan immediately activated.

The fire service in Berkshire said 50 personnel had been on the scene near Napier Road – but that by mid-afternoon the fire was out.

It said firefighters with breathing apparatus “used two main jets to extinguish the fire” and that it was scaling back resources and damping down.

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The ambulance service said the two people taken to hospital for smoke inhalation were not “severe cases”.

Thames Valley Police said road closures were in place from Forbury roundabout to Forbury Road, Friar Street and Friar West.

The force added: “We are working to allow access for residents to premises that have not been affected by the fire, and to the hotels.”