Two people are now on land after beingrescued from a hot air balloonthat got stuck in a communications tower more than 900 feet in the air in rural East Texas.
TheLongview Fire Department said in a Facebook postthat around 8:15 a.m. local time Feb. 28, units responded to a "high angle rescue after a hot air balloon basket carrying two occupants struck a cell phone tower at an estimated height of 920 feet near the intersection" in Gregg County.
Longview, the county seat of Gregg County, is some 130 miles east of Dallas.
Firefighters began climbing operations around 8:50 a.m., "using multiple rope systems due to the extreme height and complexity of the incident," according to the post. Rescuers made contact with the occupants at about 10 a.m., and they were both secured and safe inside the nearby tower by 10:58 a.m.
Both occupants were on the ground by 12:47 p.m. that day, the fire department said. Following the rescue, both victims were conscious, and no injuries were reported, it added.
'Not an everyday rescue'
Lt. Stephen Winchell, a part of Longview's Special Operations Team, saidduring a news conference on Feb. 28that this incident was "not an everyday rescue," as 14 emergency responders climbed the tower to help save the two occupants.
"Our ropes are limited at 300 feet at the most," Winchell said, adding that the balloon was sitting "close to 1,000 feet," so it took about "five or so" ropes to get the occupants all the way down to the ground.
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According to Winchell, the only way up the cell tower was physically climbing it.
In aninterview with local news station KLTV, Chris Jackson, who works for the Longview Fire Department, described the collaborative effort involving several agencies.
"They initially told us that there was a hot air balloon stuck. We were thinking probably in a tree or some type of high aerial. When we got on scene, it was much more than that," Jackson said.
Jackson added that at least 50 first responders and several additional tower engineers were involved in the rescue.
"Anything we could do on the ground to make their operation more efficient is what our guys provided," he said.
Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at fernando.cervantes@gannett.com and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Video shows dramatic hot air balloon rescue in Texas