Inwood fire, Nassau police rescue man with broken leg from gas storage tank

A man found to have a broken leg at the top of a gasoline storage tank at the Global Fuel terminal at 464 Doughty Blvd. in Inwood was rescued by Inwood firefighters and emergency medical technicians and Nassau County police at 1:18 a.m. on Dec. 22, according to Inwood Fire Department officials.

Police medics and Inwood EMTs stabilized the man and placed him in a “stokes basket” and rigged up a mainline and safety ropes to guide the basket down from the tank’s outer stairwell. The rope lines were anchored to the structure of the tank. The basket was carried across a catwalk from tank to tank, Inwood fire officials said. The basket was then walked down lowering the rope lines with a petzl device for safety and stability.


On the ground the man was transferred from the basket to a stretcher and was taken to a local hospital. The rescue was done under rain and windy conditions, which made navigating the dome of tank difficult, Inwood officials said. The entire operation took roughly an hour.