UK

Reading fire: Hero crane driver describes 'close call' saving worker from high-rise

Connor Parker
Thu, 23 November 2023 

Glen Edwards operated the crane during the rescue. (Reach)

A crane driver who has been called "heroic" after saving a worker trapped by a fire on a building site said the rescue was a close call.

More than 50 firefighters were dispatched to battle the blaze at the Station Hill development in Reading town centre at 11.30am on Thursday.

Hundreds of construction workers and office staff from surrounding buildings were evacuated as fire crews worked to contain the fire, which appeared to have spread to the top of a high-rise tower under construction near Reading train station.

Watch: Hero crane operator says Reading fire rescue was 'very close call'


The fire service has confirmed that two people were rescued by crane and taken for medical treatment.

Videos shared on social media showed a man being rescued as a cage was directed onto a platform by a the crane driver.

Once the worker was on board he was lifted to safety.

Glen Edwards, 65, said: "I was no more than 20 metres up in the air and I looked out my left-hand window and saw a guy standing on the corner of the building.

"I’d only just seen him and someone said ‘can you get the cage on’, so that was it, I got the cage on and got it over to him the best I could. It was quite windy conditions.

"I would say it was a very close call, if you look at the video at the way the wind was swirling around there.

"I tried to put the cage down between him and the flames, but I was hampered by the wind swirling around there.

The scene at the Station Hill development site in Reading where the fire broke. (PA) (PA)

"But I got the cage down and I managed to get him in there."

Edwards, a crane operator of 30 years, said it had "not been your average day at work".
Witnesses praise crane driver

Another construction worker, who asked not to be named, said Edwards was "a bit of hero" for his actions under pressure.

The worker said: "If he had been any longer, it would have been a very different ending."

Another witness who did not want to be named said: "He was coughing [when he came down], from the smoke, you know what I mean.

Two men were rescued by crane and taken to hospital for treatment for smoke inhalation after the large fire broke out at the Station Hill development site in Reading. (Reach)

Damage done to the site. (PA)

"When he got inside the crane and the crane put him down everyone was clapping.

"The crane driver was very fast. He was still in the crane while the building was on fire."

A spokesperson for South Central Ambulance Service said two people had been taken to hospital for treatment for smoke inhalation.

A spokesman for Lincoln MGT, the join venture company responsible for delivering the Station Hill development, said: "We can confirm that a fire took place on the Station Hill construction site this morning.

"We activated our fire emergency plans immediately, the emergency services were notified and are currently on site.

"The safety of those on site and the wider public is always our first priority and the site has been evacuated as a result.

"As soon as we have more information we will provide an update."

Construction company Sir Robert McAlpine, which is the lead contractor on the development, has been contacted for further information as well.
How many construction workers die a year in the UK?

In the fiscal year ending in April 2023, the UK recorded 45 fatal injuries on construction sites, up more than 50% from the previous year.

It is the most lethal profession in the UK by a wide margin, with the second most dangerous being agriculture, forestry and fishing which recorded 21 deaths.

Fire deaths are far more rare, with the most common causes of death on construction sites being falling from height, struck by moving objects or struck by vehicles.