Two people clung to a hot air balloon basket nearly 920 feet above Texas after their balloon crashed into a radio tower and became tangled in wires.
The frightening crash unfolded around 8:15 a.m. Saturday when the balloon struck a radio tower in Longview, leaving the basket swinging high above the ground.
A man and a woman were trapped inside the dangling basket as strong winds whipped the torn balloon fabric around the structure.
Firefighters with the Longview Fire Department rushed to the scene and launched a difficult rescue that unfolded hundreds of feet in the air.
The balloon had become entangled in a guy wire attached to the tower, according to a preliminary briefing from the Federal Aviation Administration.
The crash left the balloon’s fabric shredded and flapping in the wind while the basket hung suspended far above the ground.
The tower rises roughly 1,100 feet into the air. Rescuers discovered the two occupants stranded about 920 feet above ground level.
Firefighters began climbing the massive structure just before 9 a.m. in an effort to reach the trapped pair.
Crews slowly worked their way up the tower’s steel framework until they finally reached the balloon basket around 10 a.m.
Strong winds complicated every step of the operation and forced rescuers to move with extreme caution.
Officials described the rescue as a “highly technical and time intensive” mission.
The rescue effort stretched across roughly four hours as firefighters secured the trapped passengers and began lowering them to safety.
Video released by the department captured tense moments as rescuers worked hundreds of feet above the ground.
Footage showed the woman being secured with ropes while firefighters placed a hard hat on her head before beginning the descent.
The man remained in the basket as rescuers prepared the next phase of the operation.
Another clip showed him wearing a yellow hard hat while firefighters carefully guided him from the basket toward the tower.
The dramatic maneuver required rescuers to pull him across open air before securing him to the structure.
Despite the terrifying circumstances, both balloon occupants escaped without injuries.
Authorities transported both individuals to a hospital as a precaution. The rescue operation required a large team of responders working across several agencies.
Marcus Delaney, a spokesperson for the Longview Fire Department, said the department deployed 14 firefighters along with 35 members of the agency.
The effort included assistance from Longview Police, Judson Fire, East Mountain Fire, the Gregg County Sheriff’s Office, the Upshur County Sheriff’s Office, and the Texas Department of Public Safety.
“All members of the rescue team are part of our highly trained Special Operations Unit from Stations 5 and 2, operating in a coordinated technical rescue effort. Longview is in command of the scene and the operational activities.”
The incident temporarily disrupted a nearby broadcast operation.
Delaney told RadioWorld that KYKX radio station went off the air during the rescue.
The station’s transmission equipment and antennas were not damaged during the incident.
Stephen Winchell, a member of Longview’s Special Operations team, described the unusual nature of the rescue.
“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.
He noted that the passengers were fortunate they remained capable of staying inside the basket while awaiting help.
“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 added.
In Washington state, another dramatic rescue unfolded after a skier became buried beneath avalanche snow for hours.
Michael Harris had been skiing Big Chief Bowl at Stevens Pass when a powerful avalanche swept him downhill.
The slide trapped him beneath packed snow that hardened around his body. “The sensation was being encased in cement,” Harris commented.
Harris remained buried and unable to reach his phone or Apple Watch as the snow trapped his arms.
“I’m a religious guy. I said God, I’m in trouble, I don’t know if anyone is going to know where I’m at, but I can’t get out of this on my own,” he said.
His wife Penny Harris grew worried after he failed to answer her call.
“You get a feeling something’s just not right,” she said. “I followed my intuition, saw his location, checked it a couple times and saw it wasn’t moving.”
She used the Find My iPhone app to track his location and contacted ski patrol.
Rescuers located Harris buried beneath several feet of snow and pulled him out alive.
“I was inches away from the thing that could save my life, but I just couldn’t get there. And yet because she knew how to use ‘Find My iPhone’, I’m here today,” Harris noted.
Another rescue earlier this month unfolded on a steep rock face in Nevada.
Search and rescue crews responded after a climber fell roughly 40 to 50 feet along the Dream Safari route at Pine Creek near Las Vegas.
Authorities reported the climber suffered severe head and back injuries during the fall.
A climbing partner and guide from another group reached the injured climber and controlled bleeding while waiting for rescuers.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department deployed its AIR3 helicopter to insert search and rescue personnel above the victim.
Rescuers rappelled down the rock wall and began treating the injured climber while suspended hundreds of feet above the ground.
Crews placed the patient inside a titanium litter before lowering him down the rock face through three separate lowering stations.
Rescuers carried the litter to an extraction point at the base of the climb.
A helicopter then returned to airlift the climber to a Bureau of Land Management helipad before an ambulance transported him to a hospital.
The complex rescue operation lasted about seven hours from the first helicopter insertion to the final extraction.
First responders in Florida also carried out a life-saving rescue during a house fire in February.
Volusia County Sheriff’s deputy Austin Graham forced entry into a burning home after receiving reports of a fire.
Body camera footage showed Graham finding an unconscious woman lying in a hallway inside the house.
“Come on, ma’am, I got you,” Graham said as he carried her out of the burning building.
Another deputy helped him move the woman away from the house before she was transported to a hospital in serious condition.
Authorities reported she is expected to make a full recovery.
Investigators determined the fire started in the kitchen and appeared to be accidental.
