A fire department aerial platform truck was used to move an injured captain from a ferry wheelhouse down to an ambulance at the Port Aransas ferry landings today – Monday, Oct. 31.
The captain apparently fell and was injured while in the wheelhouse of the Arnold W. Oliver, according to Aaron Ames, a spokesman for the ferry system. Ames wouldn’t release the captain’s name and said he didn’t know the man’s condition.
Ames said it was unclear how the captain fell or what kind of injury he sustained.
The man was taken by ambulance to a hospital. He wouldn’t reveal which hospital.
The incident occurred about 7:45 a.m. when the ferry was on the Harbor Island side of the ferry landings. The ferry was docked at the time, and no motorists were ever in danger, Ames said.
Another pilot motored the ferry back across the channel to the Mustang Island side of the landings. The Port Aransas Volunteer Fire Department then used its biggest vehicle in its fleet – an aerial platform truck – to extend a ladder up to the wheelhouse.
The pilot was put on a gurney and lowered to an ambulance on the deck of the ferry. Using the hydraulically powered truck ladder prevented ambulance workers and firefighters from having to choose the more risky option of carrying the patient on the gurney down the ferry’s stairs.