Double decker to the rescue

[Jeremy]

Nice little story I've just seen on the BBC website:


A naked man jumped on to the roof of a double-decker bus from a top-floor flat which had caught fire.

The man, who is thought to have been in the shower, leapt 10ft (3m) from a third-storey window above a cafe in High Street, Braintree, Essex.

Andy Waterman reversed his bus so the man, who was treated for breathing in smoke, could make the jump to safety.

He's got some courage," Mr Waterman said. "But had he not he may not be here today."

Bus company First Essex said Mr Waterman was driving the out-of-service double-decker back to the depot when a group of people stopped him to ask him to help.

"We lined the bus up, close to the building to enable him to jump from the flat roof on to the top of the bus - he had no other exit," Mr Waterman said.

"The poor guy was in the shower - he was completely naked. It was freezing cold."

Mr Waterman said he moved the bus, with the man still on top, away from the fire.

"We waited five minutes or so for the emergency services to turn up," he said.

"They lobbed some clothes up to him and eventually got him down from the roof of the bus."

Four people were assessed by paramedics at the scene, and the man who leapt from the flat was taken to Broomfield Hospital before being discharged.

Essex Fire and Rescue's Dave Barritt said: "If the bus hadn't been there we would be having a much more serious and sombre conversation."

[Scott & Heather]

Smart thinking! Our buses are tall enough (we have a 9 inch roof raise) that you never know if we could provide such help someday. Cool stuff


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk