Iowa firefighters and police officers rescued a woman dangling from a bridge over train tracks early Thursday.
The Union Pacific Railroad contacted Ames police just before 1:30 a.m. concerning someone seen outside the railing of a bridge along Dayton Avenue that extended over railroad tracks, the department stated in a press release. When officers reached the scene, they found "a distraught adult woman grasping the railing" of the bridge and quickly held on to her to keep her from falling.
The Ames Fire Department was alerted, and crews positioned an aerial under the bridge while officers continue to hang on to the woman. Once the aerial's ladder was extended, a harness was put on the woman, and everyone was lowered safely to the ground.
NEWS RELEASE Date: April 8, 2021 Contact: Sergeant Joel Congdon (APD) and Commander Nick Lucchesi (AFD) Ames...
Posted by Ames Police Department on Thursday, April 8, 2021
"(The first responding police officer) stuck his arms in the space between the concrete and the metal fencing and grabbed onto her, and the second and third officers also reached under and held onto her until we could get the fire department out there to assist so we could formulate a game plan," Ames Police Sgt. Joel Congdon told WOI-TV.
Folowing the rescue, the woman was taken to the hospital to be evaluated, according to the department. No details were released about how or why the woman ended up hanging from the railing.
The responding members from both departments were praised by the city for their teamwork and swift actions during the incident.
"This is one of those cases where, today specifically, you didn't have much time to react and you had to assess it very quickly and make a move and the officers on scene did an excellent job and then working with each other," Congdon said.
