A woman who was stranded on top of a construction crane in downtown Toronto for hours early Wednesday was taken into custody after a dramatic rescue by firefighters and police. The woman was brought to the ground by a firefighter, Acting Captain Rob Wonfor, who rappelled down off of the crane’s block with her after placing her in a safety harness. The pair touched down just before 8:30 a.m., after a 2 ½ hour technical rescue, to cheers from the hundreds of onlookers crowded behind police cordons. The woman appeared calm as she was handcuffed, led to a stretcher, and then loaded into an ambulance. “She’s alert and cooperative with us,” said Toronto Fire Chief Matthew Pegg of the woman as the rescue was underway. Originally, crews intended to lower the crane’s block – carrying both the woman and the firefighter rescuing her – down into a patch of grass in Paul Kane House Parkette.The last-minute change to the rescue plans came shortly after 8 a.m., after concerns from rescuers about lowering the crane itself.“It takes a lot of dexterity…as our rescuers get cold, it gets harder on them,” said Pegg of the rescuer. Hundreds of people gathered along Wellesley, between Yonge and Church Sts, snapping photos as firefighters moved into position to rescue the woman. “He’s one of our technical rescue firefighters, and one of our best,” said Pegg of Wonfor, the firefighter who rescued the woman. “Yeah I was volun-told: ‘You’re going up,’” joked Wonfor to reporters an hour after the woman was rescued. The 22-year veteran of the Toronto Fire Service“She was a brave girl. She helped me when I got there,” Wonfor said. The incident began when someone called police around 4 a.m. to report a person on top of a crane near Wellesley St. E. The woman climbed on top of the crane using the ladder, and then lowered herself onto the platform usin ...
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