A Figtree man will recover from a heart attack suffered today, thanks to a multi-agency effort that helped extricate him from his home.
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A huge response from emergency services saw fire and rescue, police, ambulance and SES crews converge on a two-storey home in Jacaranda Avenue, Figtree, around noon after reports an elderly man had experienced a medical episode.
The man was found to have suffered a cardiac arrest and collapsed, after complaining of chest pain.
At least four ambulance units, two fire trucks, one police rescue truck and several SES vehicles rushed to the scene.
The man was resuscitated at the scene by ambulance crews, but with the only access to the second-storey being a spiral staircase, removing the man from the house proved difficult.
Fire and rescue NSW Inspector John Hawes said firefighters strapped the man into a 'stokes litter,' a kind of basket stretcher; SES crews trained in vertical rescue helped slide the man and stretcher down a fire ladder propped up against the outside of the house; and ambulance paramedics transported the man to Wollongong hospital.
"It is critical emergency services are able to work together in situations like this," Insp Hawes said.
Ambulance NSW Inspector Norm Rees also praised the collaboration of emergency crews on the scene.
Insp Rees said the patient was treated by paramedics on the scene, and would recover.
