2 rescued from hot-air balloon that got stuck on communications tower 900 feet above ground

GREGG COUNTY, Texas (KLTV/Gray News) – Two Texas firefighters opened up about what it was like climbing more than 900 feet in the air to rescue two people whose hot-air balloon hit a communications tower.

Stephen Winchell is a lieutenant with the Longview Fire Department. He said the department trained for scenarios involving balloons caught in trees or power lines, but not at the height encountered Saturday.

“We have literally talked about this one and briefed, and talked about what would happen if a hot-air balloon got stuck in a tree or a power line, but we just didn’t expect both of those scenarios to get combined today to one very tall rescue,” Winchell said.

First responders were dispatched to the communications tower around 8:15 a.m. Saturday after the call about a high-angle rescue came in.

Both people were pulled from the balloon’s basket about 10:58 a.m.

The operation took roughly four hours from the time crews began climbing until the two riders reached the ground.

Winchell said the riders’ physical condition was a factor in the operation’s outcome.

“If it had been people that were injured or not as capable as they, we would’ve had to climb out to the basket and that would’ve added a significant degree of difficulty,” Winchell said.

Winchell, who said he has about 18 years of rope rescue experience, said the height of the tower exceeded anything he had previously encountered. His previous highest tower work was about 350 feet.

Winchell described his experience with rope rescues and great heights as a “work-in-progress” because he had a fear of heights as a child, something that still lingers with him even now.

“There’s moments on the way up and moments when I got up there that my brain and my gut and my body did not like where I was at,” Winchell said. “Even the balloon flapping in the wind that was up there, that can mess with your head, but at some point as firefighters, all of us have a fair amount experience doing things that don’t come naturally and going places that other people don’t want to go.”

Firefighter Cliff Patrick, a 16-year veteran of the Longview Fire Department, said he was off duty when the call came in. He arrived 20 to 30 minutes after the initial rescue plan was established.

Patrick said the balloon operator had shut off the fuel valve and made an attempt to secure the basket to the tower before crews arrived. Rescuers used a half-inch static rope to secure the basket and provided the riders with rescue harnesses before beginning the extraction.

“They were able to get that gear on. We were able to just talk them through everything we needed of them,” Patrick said.

Patrick said six rope systems had to be used at different points along the tower due to the sheer height at which the riders were stranded. Crews also used drones to monitor conditions and confirm the exact height of the crashed balloon during the operation.

Patrick said the riders’ cooperation reduced the complexity of the rescue.

“They were a phenomenal help as far as survivors go,” Patrick said. “I couldn’t really ask for better survivors for them to be able to help us. We worked through getting a harness on, worked through getting that secured. That saved us the step of having to get actually out to them and put them in it. We were able to just talk them through everything we needed of them, so they were in the correct headspace to be able to function as an assistant to us.”

Winchell echoed Patrick’s praise of the riders’ demeanor during the rescue.

“Their courage to climb out of the basket, we were somewhat concerned if they were going to be capable of doing that, just from the pure mental stress of climbing out of a basket with nothing under you for 900 feet,” said Winchell.

Both Winchell and Patrick emphasized the large group effort that went into planning and executing the rescue. Fourteen firefighters were stationed at different points along the tower and about 21 were on the ground during the operation.

“There was a big team effort that went into this,” Winchell said. “Fourteen guys were on that tower making this happen. Another 21 firemen on the ground and other agencies participating.”

“That’s a snapshot of it, it was a team effort,” Patrick added. “Lt. Winchell and I were coming in off duty, but the plan was in place. A phenomenal plan was in place and we were able to plug into it.”

However, other firefighters and emergency personnel weren’t the only ones watching the rescue unfold.

“My wife and three kids had showed up, and Lt. Winchell’s wife and a few other family had showed up and were watching us,” said Patrick. “We’d received a few texts saying, ‘Hey we see you guys. Hey we’re praying for you guys.’ So it was an encouragement to have all the support from below as well.”

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